
Qass J JL.SQ5 

Book_ 



COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT 



THE 



LIFE OF PAUL. 



BY 



D; H; TAYLOR 



M I press toward the mark for the prize of 
the high calling of God in Christ Jesus." 

—Phil. iii. 14. 



■ i 2 V 



BOSTON: 
D. LOTHROP AND COMPANY. 

1884. 



^ 



Copyright, 
By D. Lothrop and Company, 

1S83. 



BOSTON STEREOTYPE FOUNDRY, 
145 HIGH STREET. 



Eo tfjc fHrmorg 



OF THAT MOST SCHOLARLY, CATHOLIC, AXD REVERENT 

STUDENT AND TEACHER OF THE 

WORD OF GOD, 

PROF. H. B. HACKETT, D.D. 

THIS LITTLE BOOK IS AFFECTIONATELY INSCRIBED 
BY ONE OF HIS LATEST PUPILS. 



INTKODUCTOEY NOTE. 



The following pages are an attempt to 
present a picture of the life of Paul, and of 
the scenes through which he passed, within 
such limits that every person who desires to, 
may become familiar with at least the outline 
of that grand career. The writer has nothing 
new to say, unless it be those old things that 
are always new and true and good. Other 
men have labored, and he has entered into 
their labors, availing himself, as far as he 
has been competent to do so, of the latest and 
best results of their work. Care has been 
taken to secure historical as well as exegetieal 
accuracy. The writer believes that the book 
is truthful, and he hopes that it may do good. 

Jamaica Plain, December, 1883. 



CONTENTS. 



PART FIRST. 

Preparation for %\z Htft^orfe, 

CHAPTER PAGE 

I. — School-days 15 

II. — The Martyrdom of Stephen 26 

III. —Saul's Conversion 39 

IV. —The Convert's First Six Years. ... 56 

Y. — Antioch of Syria 66 

YI. — The First Ten Years after Christ . . 76 

VII. — The Work and the Man 86 



PART SECOND. 

W$z jFtrst JHfesumarg Sourtug. 

VIII. —The Start 105 

IX. — Barnabas and Saul on Cyprus .... 115 

9 



10 CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER PAGE 

X. — Paul and Baenabas at Antioch in 

Pisidia 127 

XI. — Iconium, Lystea, and, Deebe .... 141 

XII. — The Council at Jeeusalem 152 



PART THIRD. 

SHje Second Jfilfegkmatg Sourneg. 

XIII. — Theough Asia Minoe 167 

XIV. — Up to Philippi . 178 

XV. — On to Attica 194 

XVI. — In Templed Athens 203 

XVII. — Two Yeaes at Coeinth 217 



PART FOURTH. 

STfje SHjirt JHtegtonarg Journeg. 

XVIII. — Ephesus and Apollos 235 

XIX. — Ephesus and Paul 245 

XX. — A Flying Joubney .262 



CONTENTS. 11 

PART FIFTH. 

Arrest, Atrial, Etnpristmmnxt, 

CHAPTER PAGE 

XXI. — The Arrest at Jerusalem 281 

XXII. — The Prisoner at C^esarea 299 

XXIII. — The Stormy Voyage and Shipwreck . 316 

XXIV. — The Prisoner at Rome 336 

XXV. — The Last Years 354 



Table of Paul's Epistles 362 

Some Books on Paul 363 

Index 365 



ILLUSTRATIONS. 



PAGE 

The Ship on the Fifteenth Morning . . . Frontispiece 

Map — Saint Paul's Journeys 31 

Gardens in Damascus 43 

Straight Street, Damascus 51 

Elymas Struck Blind 123 

Paul Preaching at Athens 213 

The JSgean Shore, Smyrna 269 

A Eoman Soldier 287 

Saint Paul's Bay, Malta ..329 

Entrance to Home 343 



PART FIRST. 



LIFE OF PAUL. 



CHAPTER I. 

SCHOOL-DAYS. 

" A citizen of no mean city." — Acts xxi. 39. 

"The thoughts of youth are long, long thoughts." 

H. W. Longfellow. 

AAV AY up, almost at the extreme northeast 
- corner of the Mediterranean, there is a 
Turkish city called Tersoos, the most impor- 
tant city of eastern Asia Minor. It is situated 
twelve miles from the coast, on the western 
bank of the Cydnus, — a cold mountain stream, 
which tumbles down from the perpetual snows 
of the Taurus, and makes its way rapidly across 
the Cilician plain to the sea. This plain is 
described as beautiful and fertile. In the sum- 
mer its grain-fields gleam in the sunshine, and 
the meadows are so luxuriant that rippling 
under the wind they look from a distance like 
a billowy ocean. The plain, however, is nar- 
row, being invaded, not many miles back of 
where Tersoos stands, by the foot-hills. In 
these hills roam the flocks of goats whose long 

15 



16 LIFE OF PAUL. [A.D. 6. 

coarse hair gave the name to the country, and 
the manufacture of which has always constituted 
the principal enterprise of the people. Over 
this resort of flocks and shepherds rise the 
snowy peaks of the Taurus range which makes 
the northern wall of Cilicia. Through its most 
famous pass, the Cilician Gates, the highway 
crosses from Tersoos to Central Asia Minor and 
the West. The eastern boundary of Cilicia is 
marked by the Amanus. The traveller going 
eastward from Tersoos follows the road across 
the Cydnus through the fertile plain to the 
village of Adana, over the river Seihun and 
through the Syrian Gates to the valley of the 
Orontes and Antioch. 

The capital of Cilicia is half hidden in gar- 
dens and orange-orchards ; and yet, as in most 
Oriental cities, so here, the streets are narrow, 
the houses low, and filth and squalor abound 
everywhere. There is a population of about 
thirty thousand, 1 occupied in various ways, — 
some in agriculture, some in tanning, others in 
making ropes and sacks and tents of goats' 
hair; still others in buying and selling grain, 
fruit, wool, goats' hair, and hides, wax, gall- 
nuts, and such other produce as the surround- 
ing country affords, while many spend their 
days in indolence and poverty. 

1 Plumptre : " St. Paul in Asia Minor," p. 32. 



SCHOOL-DAYS. 17 

Tersoos is very ancient. Long ago it was the 
most illustrious city of Cilicia. Tradition re- 
lates that it was founded about a hundred years 
after the time of Solomon, by Sardanapalus, king 
of Assyria. Four centuries before the Christian 
era Xenophon wrote that it was large and pros- 
perous. Here Cicero made his residence while 
governor of the province of Cilicia. It was 
here that Mark Antony summoned Cleopatra 
to explain some of her political movements. 
This Venus of the Nile "sailed up the river in 
a magnificent galley, its stern covered with 
gold, its sails of purple, its oars of silver." 1 
The queen lay under a golden canopy, fanned 
by boys dressed as Cupids, while the sailors 
appeared as Nereids and Graces. The river 
banks were black with the wondering crowds, 
who, in their admiration at the advent of the 
supposed goddess, made the air fragrant from 
burning incense. Antony himself was so fas- 
cinated with the beauty of this wonderful crea- 
ture, and with the luxury which surrounded her, 
that instead of becoming Cleopatra's judge, he 
became her lover and facile slave. 

At this time Tersoos, or, as it was then called, 
Tarsus, ranked among the first cities of the 
world. It was one of the busiest mercantile 
ports of the Mediterranean; while in scholar- 

1 Plurnptre : " St. Paul in Asia Minor," p. 15. 



18 LIFE OF PAUL. [A.D. 6. 

ship and the fine arts it was excelled only by 
Alexandria and Athens. Here were schools to 
which young men from all parts of the world came 
to complete their education. 1 " Rome," we are 
told, " was as full of men who had been trained 
at Tarsus as of those who had been trained at 
Alexandria, and the one education was as much 
a passport to the post of tutor or director as the 
other." The language of the cultivated classes 
was Greek, — a language which nearly all the 
inhabitants understood, though some retained 
their native dialect. There were also many 
Jews and persons of Jewish descent who in 
their homes and places of worship and private 
schools used the Aramaic and the ancient He- 
brew. There was a variety of religions or 
of forms of worship. Most of the people were 
ready to adopt the forms prescribed by the 
Roman government ; but some maintained their 
devotion to the deities of Greece, while others 
clung to the traditional religion of Assyria. The 
Jewish residents, however, held tenaciously to 
their own faith and form of worship. They 
read their scriptures and taught them to their 
children ; they met in their synagogues on the 

i " Tarsus, from which we know at least one splendid specimen 
of a student, — the Apostle Paul, — always had a high and solid 
reputation for work ; and it is very remarkable how the most serious 
of all the practical systems, the Stoic, is identified with that part of 
Asia Minor." — J. P. Mahaffy : " Old Greek Education," p. 138. 



Birth.] SCHOOL-DAYS. 19 

Sabbath and worshipped with their faces to- 
ward Jerusalem. 

It was in such a city, among such a people, 
that, a few years after the birth of Christ, Saul 
was born. We know little about his parents, 
except that they were Jews, and Pharisees, and 
that his father was a Roman citizen. We know 
also that he had one sister ; but whether there 
were ,any others — sisters or brothers — we are 
not told. There is no doubt that while Saul was 
a small boy he was taught to read the Hebrew 
Bible, and instructed in the history and religion 
of his nation. As he grew older he probably 
attended the schools of Tarsus, where he would 
study geography and mathematics, poetry, and 
even metaphysics. Sometime too, while yet a 
hoy, he learned the trade of tent-making (at 
which in later life he frequently worked to earn 
a living) ; for every Jewish boy was required to 
learn some trade, no matter whether his parents 
were poor or rich. It is also quite probable 
that Barnabas, then a boy, was sent from his 
home in Cyprus to the excellent schools in 
Tarsus, and that here sprang up that friendship 
which on several occasions in later life drew the 
two men together. We think of the boy Saul 
at this period as studious, devout, rather im- 
petuous and fiery in his disposition, and in- 
clined to obstinacy and pride — a burly little 



20 LIFE OF PAUL. [A.D. 6. 

Jew. He was very much such a boy, probably, 
as the boys of the best families in Tarsus are at 
the present time. He saw too the same luxuri- 
ant fields, played upon the banks of the same 
mountain stream, lay on the ground in the 
shade of the same species of trees, picked the 
same kinds of flowers, listened to the same bird- 
notes, watched the cloud-shadows drifting across 
the same snowy peaks in the distance. 

But the schools of Tarsus, excellent though 
they may have been, were not adapted to the 
training of a Jewish boy. Young Saul's par- 
ents saw that he was likely to be something 
more than an ordinary man, and they were 
anxious to give him the best possible education. 
For this purpose he must go to Jerusalem. It 
is not improbable that his parents entertained 
the hope that their son might be a Scribe or 
Teacher of the Law. The most famous school 
in which to prepare for this profession was that 
of Gamaliel. 1 To this boys were admitted at 
the age of thirteen, provided they were able to 
pass the entering examination. The curriculum 
for those who took the full course lasted from 
fifteen to seventeen years. 

We can imagine Saul making preparation to 
exchange his home-life for that of the school in 
Jerusalem. His thoughts would naturally 

1 " The University of Jerusalem," Lewin, I. 9. 



;£t. 13.] SCHOOL-DAYS. 21 

be occupied with the future. That city of 
David, of which he had read, about which his 
mother had told him so many fascinating stories, 
of whose walls and towers and palaces and 
Temple he had often dreamed, he was going to 
see ! Hope was keen in the young Pharisee. 
His mother, we may believe, had taken pains 
that everything should be ready for his depart- 
ure. Perhaps his father had put into his hand, 
with a word of timely advice, a few Roman 
coins. At the last moment father and mother 
bid him good-by, and in a few hours he is on 
board ship, and feeling, possibly for the first 
time, the swell and roll of the sea. The eager 
boy takes a farewell look at the shores of Cili- 
cia, sees the familiar mountains fading from 
view, and then turns his face toward the new 
shores, — the shores of that promised land, 
visions of which had been filling his young 
mind. 

Palestine at this date was no longer the home 
of a distinct nation. Rome had become "mis- 
tress of the world." Other nations were only 
provinces under the sway of her magnificent 
empire, which, enthroned in the city of Romulus, 
was ordering the affairs of all mankind ; and 
Palestine was merely a small and remote part 
of one of the most distant provinces of the 
empire, namely, Syria. Jerusalem, the ancient 



22 LIFE OF PAUL. [A.D. 19. 

capital of Palestine, was three hundred miles 
from Antioch, the illustrious capital of Syria. 
Saul must have come to. Jerusalem about the 
time of the death of the great and much 
loved Augustus, when Tiberius became em- 
peror. 

We should remember that while Palestine 
was a part of the province of Syria, it main- 
tained, on account of the peculiar difficulties in 
controlling the Jewish population, and for other 
political reasons, a partial independence. The 
whole province of Syria was under the rule of a 
governor, or proconsul, residing at Antioch. 
Palestine also had its own governor, or procura- 
tor, residing at Caesarea, appointed directly by 
the emperor, and in the main independent of 
the governor of Syria. Valerius Gratus was 
made procurator of Palestine on the accession of 
Tiberius, and continued in office until A.D. 26, 
when he was succeeded by Pontius Pilate. 

The Romans had made great changes in Pales- 
tine. • They had built at least two new cities, 
Caesarea and Tiberias, and they had almost 
transformed Jerusalem. Herod, a petty king 
by the grace of the emperor, had erected here 
a palace famed for its grandeur ; had enlarged 
and strengthened the fortress and named it 
Antonia ; had built and adorned a theatre, and 
had also rebuilt the Temple on a scale of magni- 



JEt. 13.] SCHOOL-DAYS. 23 

ficence far surpassing the work of Solomon. So 
that while Saul, as a patriotic young Jew, 
would be disturbed that his beloved fatherland 
should be under the yoke of a foreign govern- 
ment ; yet in all its external aspect the entire 
country, and its one great city, presented a finer 
appearance than it ever had presented before 
the Roman conquest. 

Already there are several other boys in Pales- 
tine who will some day be great men ; and with 
whom, later in life, Saul will have much to do. 
There is one whose name is John, living with 
his aged parents somewhere in the hill-country 
of Judea. There are others in Bethsaida, who, 
scarcely old enough yet to manage a fishing-boat 
on the Lake of Galilee, are no doubt busy part 
of every day drying and mending the nets, and 
washing and drying the fish their fathers have 
caught, who will yet be brothers to Saul. And 
at the village of Nazareth there lives one Jesus 
with his father, Joseph the carpenter, and his 
mother Mary, whom, as Saul grows to manhood, 
he learns to despise and hate with great bitter- 
ness. At length, however, he learns to love this 
Jesus so well that life is too small to give Him, 
and death is sweet for His sake. Probably none 
of these boys were in circumstances to attend 
the great school at Jerusalem. Saul's school 
companions prided themselves on being of an 



24 LIFE OF PAUL. [A.D. 19. 

entirely different class. Most of them belonged 
to the aristocracy of the Pharisees. 

During the fifteen years that Saul was at Je- 
rusalem we know only that he sat w at the feet 
of Gamaliel, taught according to the perfect 
manner of the law of the fathers." We may feel 
sure that he followed the whole course of studies 
laid down in the school, that he was a diligent 
student, and was among the best scholars. His 
vacations were most likely spent in Tarsus rest- 
ing at his father's, or perhaps working at his 
trade, or possibly on pleasant days going down 
the Cydnus to the seaside, or away to the 
mountains to ramble among their tremendous 
solitudes. 

There developed in Saul during this period a 
strong, active, independent character. The im- 
petuosity and wilfulness of the boy had been 
tamed and disciplined into force and fearlessness. 
He was proud of his nationality, and looked with 
scorn upon all who were not Jews. His days 
were spent in rigid conformity to the Jewish 
law, while he- observed with scrupulous care 
all the rites and ceremonies which that law 
imposed, attending the religious festivals, sub- 
mitting to the fasts, offering the sacrifices, pay- 
ing the fees, making and fulfilling the vows, 
reciting the Hebrew scriptures, and both in 
private and in public repeating long prayers. 



jEt. 30.] SCHOOL-DAYS. 25 

Before he had arrived at the age of thirty he 
was one of the foremost young Scribes in Jeru- 
salem, looked upon by the older Jews as a pillar 
of orthodoxy, and put forward as the champion 
of their venerable religious creed. 1 

1 " We infer, from the whole bearing of the Apostle, that he was 
bred to all those amenities of the higher circles of life, which so 
stood him in stead when he was compelled to deal with men of high 
rank or culture. Through all the vicissitudes of his eventful life 
he seems always to have borne 

1 without abuse 
The grand old name of gentleman.' " 

W. T. Burns. 

"We may assume, as a matter of course, that he took the de- 
gree of Rab, the first step to honor among his countrymen ; and 
that he afterwards became a Rabbi, the second step amongst the 
learned doctors. The diploma of Rabbi, conferred by the Univer- 
sity of Jerusalem, was of the greatest service to Saul in his subse- 
quent labors ; for it enabled him to address his countrymen in the 
synagogues abroad, and to command, from his rank, their respect- 
ful attention."— Lewin, i. 13. 



CHAPTEE II. 

THE MARTYRDOM OF STEPHEN. 

" Foremost and nearest to His throne, 
By perfect robes of triumph known, 
And likest him in look and tone, 

The holy Stephen kneels, 
With steadfast gaze, as when the sky 
Flew open to his fainting eye, 
Which, like a fading lamp, flash'd high, 
Seeing what death conceals." — Keblb. 

" The first Apostle who died was a traitor, the first disciples of 
the Christian Apostles, whose deaths are recorded, were liars and 
hypocrites. The kingdom of the Son of Man was founded in 
darkness and gloom. But a heavenly light reappeared with the 
martyrdom of Stephen." — J. S. Howson. 

XTTHILE Saul is yet at Jerusalem, events 
* * occur which give direction to all his sub- 
sequent life. That John, who had been brought 
up in the hill-country of Judea, commences 
preaching about the city, and at last estab- 
lishes himself in the vicinity of the River Jor- 
dan, where many go to hear him. He is telling 
the people that they must repent and live holier 
lives, and that very soon the Messiah will be 
among them to call out His followers and set 
up His kingdom. Many out of the listening 
crowds are persuaded by John's burning words, 

26 



&T. 31.] THE MARTYRDOM OF STEPHEN. 27 

and, as a sign of their penitence and reforma- 
tion, are baptized in the river. One day there 
appeared among the people a new face. Jesus, 
the son of Joseph the carpenter, has come down 
from Nazareth, and he also is baptized. Very 
soon Jesus himself commences to preach, and 
one by one gathers a little company of disci- 
ples, with whom for three years and a half he 
goes through the towns and villages and cities 
of Palestine, healing the sick, speaking with 
authority, rebuking the religious formalists, 
and offering eternal life to all who believe the 
words he speaks. At length the Jews are so 
irritated by the claims of Jesus that he is vio- 
lently arrested while at prayer, hurriedly tried, 
falsely condemned, and impiously crucified. 

While these remarkable events were taking 
place Saul was probably at Jerusalem, or, if 
absent for the time, he must have heard of 
tkem ; for he was so patriotic as a Jew, and so 
prominent in the political and religious life of 
his nation, that he was not likely to be ignorant 
of the character and teaching of Jesus ; of the 
accusations made against him, of his death, and 
the report of his resurrection. By this time 
we must think of Saul not as a student in 
Gamaliel's school, but as an active Scribe or 
teacher. As a lawyer he has been " admitted 
to the bar" ; and, more than that, has been ap- 



28 LIFE OF PAUL. [A.D. 37. 

pointed one of the seventy -two judges, and 
occupies a seat on that supreme bench called 
the Sanhedrim. 

During the three or four years immediately 
following the death of Christ there were several 
remarkable events, which need only to be men- 
tioned in this connection, since they have merely 
an incidental bearing upon the life of Saul. - 

The first was that miraculous occurrence on 
the day of Pentecost, ten days after the ascen- 
sion of our Lord, w T hen, as Luke tells us, His 
disciples being all together in one place, "Sud- 
denly there came a sound from heaven as of a 
rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house 
where they were sitting. And there appeared 
unto them cloven tongues as of fire, and it sat 
upon each of them. And they were all filled 
with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak with 
other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utter- 
ance." 1 

In the autumn of the same year Peter cured 
a man, who had been a helpless cripple all his 
life, at the Beautiful Gate of the Temple, by 
simply taking him by the hand and bidding him, 
te in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise 
up and walk." 2 A great crowd gathered to listen 
while Peter and his companion John explained 
the means by which the lame man was made to 

i Acts ii. 2. s Acts iii. 6. 



^t. 31.] THE MARTYRDOM OF STEPHEN. 29 

walk, and the result was that a large number 
were converted. The Sadducees, however, made 
complaint, caused the arrest of the apostles, and 
brought them before the Sanhedrim ; but, not 
being able at this time to substantiate their 
charge against them, were obliged to let them 
be dismissed. After this, the apostles were 
arrested, tried, and imprisoned ; at one time 
released from prison by an angel in answer to 
the united prayer of the assembled church ; at 
another, escaping death only by the temperate 
advice of Gamaliel. 1 

Another event in the record is the startling 
and terrible death of Ananias and of his wife, 
Sapphira. 2 These two secretly agreed upon a 
falsehood which they would tell to make the 
apostles believe that they had given away all 
that they possessed, while in reality they were 
keeping back one half. But " lying lips are an 
abomination to the Lord." They both fell dead, 
neither knowing the other's miserable end. 

Four years have passed since the crucifixion 
of Christ. They were years crowded with 
activity and development on the part of Chris- 
tianity. The disciples, who had been scattered 
at the death of Christ, came together again 
immediately after His resurrection, and from 
that time exhibited such intensity of devotion 

i Acts y. 34. 2 Acts v. 19. 



30 LIFE OF PAUL. [A.D. 37. 

to Him and His memory that their cause at- 
tracted the attention of all classes in Jerusalem. 
It was a time when religion was at a low ebb. 
Attention enough was given to the formalities 
of worship ; but there was very little in either 
the teaching or the example of any of the relig- 
ious leaders to satisfy the cravings of the people 
or to incite them to good lives. Even Saul, 
while he maintained such remarkable devotion as 
he did to the religion of the fathers, must have 
sometimes been less than satisfied with its uni- 
versal dulness, coldness, and fruitlessness. This 
state of things, however, furnished a favorable 
opportunity for the warm, pungent, personal 
Gospel preached by the apostles of Christ ; and 
the people liked it, even as they had, so many 
of them, gladly heard Jesus himself. Accord- 
ingly, the number of Christ's followers increased, 
not only from the poor and uneducated, but 
also "a great company of the priests were obe- 
dient to the faith." 1 

Among the most prominent of those who 
believed the Gospel, and who met together to 
worship Jesus and take counsel for their work, 
was Stephen. 

That first church had in it some poor and 
helpless widows, who, if thej had remained 
faithful to the old Jewish religion, would have 

i Acts vi. 7. 



JET. 31.1 THE MARTYRDOM OF STEPHEN. 33 

been provided for by the Corban fund, but, hav- 
ing left the synagogues, and meeting now with 
the disciples, some other means must be devised 
for their support. The first disciples of Christ 
were generous ; but it was necessary that there 
should be some system as well as generosity in 
their benevolence. Accordingly, seven deacons 
were chosen, part of whose duty it was to 
attend to the needs of the poor. Stephen was 
one of these. He was a young man of far more 
than common gifts, — a Jew who had received 
a Greek education. He was vigorous, strong 
and bold, and, as tradition paints him, beauti- 
ful. It was natural that such a man should 
come quickly into notoriety. With Peter, John, 
and Philip he was soon recognized as a leader ; 
so that he was not only a deacon to distribute 
charity among the indigent, but also an eloquent 
evangelist preaching the Gospel of Christ with 
so much force and zeal that many were con- 
verted, while, on the other hand, some were en- 
raged. 

At length there was a public discussion, at 
which Stephen maintained the truth of Chris- 
tianity against chosen men from several of the 
synagogues of Jerusalem. 1 

It is probable that Saul took part in this de- 
bate ; but even with such a champion Stephen's 

i Acts vi. 9-10. 



34 LIFE OF PAUL. [A.D. 37. 

enemies were not able to hold their ground 
against him. All the more was their opposi- 
tion stirred up. They were not only opposed 
to the truth which he preached, but they were 
alarmed at the influence which a man of such 
ability and zeal might exert upon all classes, low 
and high, in the city. They determined that in 
some manner he must be got out of the way. 

It happened that at that time, A. D. 37, by a 
very exceptional combination of circumstances, 
the power of life and death was in the hands of 
the Jewish authorities. Pilate had been called 
from Cgesarea to Eome, and his successor had 
not yet arrived in Palestine. The Sanhedrim 
is, therefore, for the time independent and 
supreme. It is substantially the same body by 
which Jesus was condemned, except that Saul 
seems to have been admitted to it since that 
time. Again, as on that former occasion, "false 
witnesses " are brought forward. Stephen is 
suddenly arrested and dragged into the hall 
Gazith. Everything is unfair. There is only 
the flimsiest show of justice. There are no for- 
mal preliminaries. The "false witnesses" give 
their testimony — that the prisoner had spoken 
blasphemy against the Temple and the ceremo- 
nies and Moses. Stephen stood alone before his 
judges. He knew that like blood-thirsty wolves 
they were determined to have his life. The 



JET. 31.] THE MARTYBDOM OF STEPHEN. 35 

eyes of the whole semicircle were intently 
watching their living prey. They saw not a 
face pale with fear, nor black with anger ; but, 
a marvel in that hall of judgment, w as it had 
been the face of an angel." 

When the High Priest, the presiding judge 
in this court, after listening to the testimony of 
the *' false witnesses," said to the prisoner, ?? Are 
these things so ? " Stephen had the privilege of 
defence — if the opportunity to appeal to a jury 
who have already agreed upon a verdict is any 
privilege. At least he could stand boldly for 
the truth ; and immediately he opened his lips 
and replied to the charges brought against him. 
It is a remarkable address, full of historic 
illustration, cogent logic, and pathos. Its key- 
note is, that the Mosaic legislation must inevit- 
ably make way for the coming of a better re- 
ligion, of which Jesus Christ is the living heart. 
This is the martyr's supreme thought as he 
stands before his judges and pours into their 
ears the unpleasant truth ; but at the last 
moment, irritated into indignation by their 
proud self-admiration, he breaks out upon them 
with the keen and biting charge : — 

?f Stiff-necked, and uncircumcised in heart 
and ears ! Ye do always resist the Holy Spirit, 
as your fathers did, so do ye. Which of the 
prophets did not your fathers persecute ? And 



36 LIFE OF PAUL. [A.D.37. 

they killed those who foretold the coming of the 
righteous One, of whom ye have now become 
the betrayers and murderers ; — ye who received 
the law as ordained through angels, and did not 
keep it." 

There was not a more intent man in the San- 
hedrim that day than Saul. How the words of 
Stephen — the angelic face, the simple earnest- 
ness and devotion to his master — must have 
taken hold of him ! For Saul was not a mere 
traditionalist, who would believe and rest in the 
teachings of other men without thinking for him- 
self. It could not be that in a heart so deep as 
his there were no longings unfilled by the super- 
ficial religious notions of so many of his own 
people. He w x as a Jew outwardly, Pharisee of the 
Pharisees, after the law blameless. 1 But there 
is an inward grace without which every earnest 
soul is unsatisfied ; and Saul must have felt, 
while Stephen was addressing them, that the 
martyr possessed something to which he him- 
self was a stranger. But education, custom, 
pride, friendship, official position, occupation, 
and that personal momentum which drives one 

1 " Pride of birth, pride of intellect, pride of knowledge, and 
though last, the deadliest and the worst of all these serpents which 
are nurtured in the human heart, pride of religious profession, mis- 
called religious pride, all raised their hydra heads against the 
entrance of the Lamb of God into his soul." — Henry Blunt: 
" History of St. Paul/' p. 15. 



JET. 31.] THE MARTYRDOM OF STEPHEN. 37 

on in the direction in which he has been going, 
were so strong in Saul that they bore down 
every conviction of right and duty. 

R Cut to the heart," the council unanimously 
and hastily condemned Stephen to death, 
gnashed their teeth at him in their fury, ran 
upon him screaming and stopping their ears so 
that they might hear no more, dragged him out 
of the judgment hall, along the street and 
through the gate out into the valley of Jehosha- 
phat. Here, f ' kneeling in a final act of love 
and intercession, he received the ministering 
blows of death. It was a terrible, an agoniz- 
ing end. With heavy thuds of torture," 1 they 
bruised and crushed and killed his fair youth- 
ful body, while his calm spirit gazed into 
heaven, and saw the Son of Man standing at 
the right hand of the Majesty on high, and with 
that vision was so at peace that he could pray 
for Heaven's mercy upon his murderers. No 
doubt Saul's voice was loud in the condemna- 
tion. We are sure; for not only does Luke 
record it, but the Apostle himself afterwards 
confesses that he stood by and ? ' kept the 
raiment of them that slew him." 2 Perhaps he 
was "thinking with secret joy of the merits 
which he was acquiring by participating in the 

1 Knox Little : " Manchester Sermons," p. 236. 

2 Acts xxii. 20. 



38 LITE OF PAUL. [A.l>. 37. 

death " of this zealous follower of the despised 
Nazarene. 

So Stephen fell asleep " on the hard bier of 
the murderous stones " ; l but the eyes of an- 
other great soul are soon opened in the blaze 
of a light brighter than the sun at noonday, and 
the work of the Lord Jesus goes on. 

1 Baumgarten : " Apostolic History," i. 167. 



CHAPTER m. 

SAUL'S CONVERSION. 

" Thou from on high perceivest it were better 
all men and women should on earth be free ; 
laws that blaspheme and tyrannies that fetter 
snap and evanish at the touch of Thee. 5 ' 

F. W. H. Myers. 

" Of Saul, what made a Paul ? Faith." — Adolphe Moxod. 

" I was unbelieving in the evening, on the morrow a Christian, 
certain with an invincible certainty. " — Lacordalre. 

rriHE martyrdom of Stephen was the signal 
-■- for a general outbreak of persecution upon 
the Christians, until all of them living in Jeru- 
salem, except the apostles, abandoned their 
homes and hurried away to hide themselves in 
other cities, and in obscure places in the 
country. It was indeed a dark time for them ; 
but they would not yield an iota in their devo- 
tion to Jesus, though their lives were at 
stake. 

Saul seems to have been the leading spirit in 
this persecution. Many years afterward he 
declared, in the presence of Herod Agrippa, 1 
that he bad punished the Christians, and had 

1 Acts xxvi. 9-11, 

39 



40 LIFE OF PAUL. [A.D. 37. 

compelled the weak to deny their faith, that he 
had thrown them into prison, had voted to put 
them to death, and "being exceedingly mad 
against them," l had driven them out of Jerusa- 
lem to other cities, and following, had continued 
to persecute them wherever they had fled. Dur- 
ing these years the disciples of Christ had no 
enemy so much dreaded as this fierce Pharisee. 
He counted their lives no better than the lives 
of wild dogs. He had no respect for age, con- 
dition, or sex. He thrust his bloody hands 
into the very secrecy and sanctity of the Chris- 
tians' homes, and dragged out both men and 
women to have them cast into prison, or, with 
little show of justice, to be scourged or stoned 
to death. 

At length fuel for the fires of persecution 
was almost exhausted at Jerusalem ; but the 
zeal of the persecutor was not extinguished. 
He had tasted the cruel delight of shedding 
Christian blood ; but his appetite was yet keen. 
We may presume that Saul's visits had already 
struck terror to the hearts of Christians in all 
the principal cities of Palestine. But his eager- 
ness carried him into " strange cities." 

Of the large foreign cities, Damascus was 
nearest to Jerusalem. It was less than one 
hundred and fifty miles away, and could be 
reached in six or eight days. It was situated, 



^et.31.] saul's conversion. 41 

as now, 1 just beyond the mountains of Anti- 
Lebanon, on the edge of the Syrian desert. 
Although this oldest city of the world is nearly 
surrounded on three sides by barren sands, 
travellers vie with each other in attempting to 
portray its beauty and fertility. Some ten or 
twelve miles beyond the city, toward the East, 
are two small lakes, 2 out of which no stream or 
river runs, but the waters of which are drunk 
by the thirsty sand and the hot Syrian atmos- 
phere. The river Barada (or Abana) , which sup- 
plies these lakes, flows perpetually from the 
snowy ravines of Anti-Lebanon, and in its 

1 The Damascus of to-day lies along the south side of the 
Barada river. There is a small suburb on the opposite bank, 
called Salahiyeh. The population of the city at the present time 
is about one hundred and fifty thousand, almost the whole of which 
are Mohammedans. There are a few fine buildings. The Great 
Mosque is one of the handsomest structures in the possession of 
the Mohammedans. There are some other religious buildings, 
and quite an imposing hotel, built of black and white marble. The 
principal thoroughfare is Sultany Street, which, although so nar- 
row that two loaded donkeys can scarcely pass each other in it, 
and so obstructed by bends and projecting houses that one can see 
down it but a little way, still makes in general a direct course 
through the city from West to East, and was formerly called 
" Straight Street." Eighteen hundred years ago this was the fash- 
ionable avenue of the great city. It was one hundred feet wide, 
and was divided into three parallel avenues, — two broad pave- 
ments on either side for pedestrians, and a central way for car- 
riages. Two rows of Corinthian columns stretched through the 
whole length of the avenue. Halfway clown, the street was spanned 
by a splendid Roman arch, and at either end of it were the massive 
threefold gates. 

2 Porter: "Eive Years in Damascus," p. 147, and his map. 



42 LIFE OF PAUL. [A.D. 37. 

course waters that fertile spot in which Damas- 
cus sits. The Damascenes, like the Egyptians, 
early learned the value of irrigation. Canals 
were cut in all directions, and the fertilizing 
waters were made use of at every available 
point. Groves and gardens flourished. There 
were trees loaded with delicious fruits of many 
varieties, plots covered with brilliant flowers, 
hedges of roses, and, spreading over all, along 
every sparkling, melodious water-course, the 
stately plume-crowned palm. In the midst of 
such a luxuriant garden flashed the K Eye of the 
East." "Its white buildings," says Pusey, 
" embedded in the deep green of its engirdling 
orchards, were like diamonds encircled by 
emeralds." 1 The Arabs say, "If there is a 
Garden of Eden on earth, it is Damascus ; and 
if in heaven, Damascus is like it on earth." 

The political condition of Damascus at the 
period of Saul's visit should be understood. 
Just one hundred years before this time, the 
city had become a dependence of the Roman 
republic, and had so continued to be. But at 
the death of Tiberius (A.D. 37), the change of 
administration placed Damascus in the hands of 
Aretas, King of Arabia Petrsea. Lewin sum- 
marizes the condition of affairs thus : " There 
cannot be a doubt that at the commencement 

" Commentary on Amos," I. 3. 



.et.31.] saul's cox version. 45 

of the reign of Caligula, Aretas, by whatever 
means he attained this dignity, was in the 
peaceful possession of Damascus. As a new 
sovereign he was anxious to gain popularity 
with all classes of his subjects, and in particu- 
lar exhibited a conciliatory demeanor towards 
the Greeks and Jews, who formed no small 
part of the population. Aretas describe him- 
self on his coins as Lover of the Greeks ; and, 
as regards the Jews, he accorded to them all 
the privileges which they were allowed in cities 
where they were most favored. Xot only were 
they allowed the free exercise of their religion, 
but they were permitted, as at Antioch and 
Alexandria, to govern their own community by 
their own peculiar laws ; and the local chief 
of their nation, or ethnarch, had authority to 
arrest and punish any delinquent amongst his 
own people." 1 

This accounts for the large number of Jews 
resident at Damascus at this time, many of 
whom were Christians, and also explains why 
the High Priest at Jerusalem could confer so 
much authority on Saul,* to be exercised in a 
foreign city : for Jews everywhere and in all 
conditions acknowledged the supremacy of the 
High Priest, and were subject, under penalty of 
death, to the authority of the Great Sanhedrim 
at Jerusalem . 

i "St Paul" i. 68. 



46 LIFE OF PAUL, [A.D. 37. 

Saul, therefore, "breathing out threatenings 
and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, 
went unto the High Priest, and desired of him 
letters to Damascus to the synagogues that if 
he found any of this way, whether they were 
men or women, he might bring them bound to 
Jerusalem ; " and, having received the letters, 
permitted nothing to detain him, but hurried 
away for a long, hot journey in " midsummer" 1 
up through Galilee and Samaria, and across 
over the tedious desert roads to the eastern 
slopes of Anti-Lebanon. He is not alone. 
Soldiers and servants, some on horseback, some 
on foot, would be the natural attendants of such 
a personage, sent out from the High Priest on 
an embassy like this. 

Who can tell what Saul's thoughts were 
during this week ? The fancy may be correct 
which 1 pictures him now away from the heat and 
excitement of his cruel work, driven by the 
length of the journey into a comparative soli- 
tude and leisure to think about what he was 
doing, — " forced to go up into the dark tribunal 
of his own conscience and set himself before 
himself," 2 — until he was filled with doubts and 
misgivings as to whether he was right or wrong 
in persecuting with such cruel severity such 
people as the Christians were. If these were his 

1 Lewin, I. 48. 2 Farrar, chap. x. 



^T.3i.] saul's conversion. 47 

thoughts during the journey to Damascus, they 
would only be the natural antecedents of the 
startling event which took place as he came 
near the journey's end. 

The sight of his destination rouses all the 
energy of the inquisitor. The cavalcade is push- 
ing forward, even in the intense heat of noon, 
at an hour when the traveller in the East is 
accustomed to spread his tent and seek shelter 
from the scorching sun. No rest nor halting 
for zealous Saul so near his work. You can 
almost see him urging to its utmost speed his 
jaded horse, bending forward in the saddle with 
his eyes intent upon yonder beautiful city, the 
home of Christians trembling because they have 
heard of his coming, — silent, eager, exulting, 
— when "suddenly there shined round about 
him a light from heaven," " above the brightness 
of the sun." Saul is blinded and falls to the 
ground, and lying there he hears a heavenly 
voice filled with sweetly-pleading reproof, say- 
ing to him, " Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou 
me?" In his amazement he only asks, "Who 
art thou, Lord? " and waits listening if he may 
hear another word from that heart-conquering 
voice. And the Lord said, " I am Jesus, whom 
thou persecutest." Trembling and amazed he 
asks humbly, "Lord, what wilt thou have me 
do ? " w Arise and enter into the city, and it 



48 , LIFE OF PAUL. LA.D. 37. 

shall be told thee what thou must do." x See 
Saul now ! He whose whole being, a little while 
ago, was urged on to persecute the followers 
of this Jesus, rises one of his followers himself. 
" He had fallen a proud, intolerant, persecuting 
Jew ; he rose a humble, broken-hearted, peni- 
tent Christian." 

When Saul rose from the ground to which he 
had been thrown by the sudden shock of the 
marvellous light from heaven, he could see 
nothing. And his blindness made him helpless. 
The strong man became a child. The pride of 
this very proud Pharisee had nothing to lean 
against. He, the leader of the company, with 
letters in the inner pocket of his robe from the 
High Priest, authorizing him to hunt out and 
arrest Christians in Damascus, came to the gate 
of the city an object of pity to all who saw him ; 
for " they led him by the hand," and on they 
went through the avenue, — some one leading 
the horse on which he had ridden, some one 
leading Saul, — observed by every passer-by, 
until they came to "the house of Judas." 

This, one would think, must have been keenly 
humiliating to Saul. Hour after hour passes. 
In all probability the best physician in Damas- 

1 There are three accounts of Saul's conversion: 1. Luke's 
simple story, Acts ix. 2. Paul's narrative in the Temple-court in 
Jerusalem, Acts xxii. 3. His statement before Festus and Agrippa 
in Caesarea, Acts xxv. 



jst.31.] saul's conversion. 49 

cus is summoned ; but his diagnosis reveals 
nothing, and his nostrums produce no effect. 
But, unless we misapprehend the feelings of 
Saul at this time, there was something troubling 
him even more than the fact of his being blind. 
He was, before all else, a religious man. He 
believed in God, and had been in the habit of 
praying, and it was the chief aim of his life to 
serve God in the best way. And he thought he 
had been serving God ; but very suddenly a 
new light has broken in upon him, and lo ! all 
his past life is wrong, — not only wrong, but 
desperately wicked ! He wonders how he could 
have made such a mistake. He recalls the 
words of the prophets, and each new sentence 
makes it plainer that this Jesus must have been 
the promised Messiah. He recollects the argu- 
ment of Stephen, and goes over it again in 
detail. He remembers the face, the prayer, the 
patience of the youthful martyr ; and the burden 
of condemnation grows still heavier. What 
can this blindness be but the judgment of God ? 
We are not surprised that he takes no food. 
As the hours of bitter memory drag on, he 
does not know but something more terrible 
than blindness may be hanging over him. He 
betakes himself to praj'er ; and He who answers 
prayer mercifully revealed to Saul's inner sight 
a vision of what was soon actually to occur. 



50 LIFE OF PAUL. [A.D. 37. 

He seemed to see a stranger coming into the 
room where he was, and by the touch of his 
hand restoring his lost sight. 

There was a disciple of Jesus in Damascus 
named Ananias. He too was a Jew. Whether 
he was a native of Damascus, and had been con- 
verted there, or, because he had become a fol- 
lower of Christ, had been obliged to find refuge 
in that distant city, we do not know. What 
his subsequent history was, we are equally un- 
able to say. He is only led out of obscurity to 
perform one signal act, and then steps back 
again to be seen no more. 1 

Two nights have passed since Saul was led 
blind into the house of Judas ; and on the third 
day, while he is praying there, the Lord speaks 
to Ananias, telling him of the vision that had 
been given to Saul, and commanding him to go 
and make the vision real. Ananias had heard of 
Saul and of his purpose in coming to Damascus. 
It is no wonder, therefore, that he hesitated to 
put himself within reach of one whose intentions 
were so bloody ; but the command is urgent, and 
with the command there is an assurance that this 

i Not Peter, or James, or John, no great and eminent apostle 
need be sent for to instruct the learned and highly talented Saul ; 
but Ananias, some poor, simple-hearted Christian, of whom the 
divine word has never before made mention, is fully sufficient, in 
God's hand, to teach this most richly-endowed of all the early con- 
verts.— Blunt : " History of St. Paul/' 39. 



jet.31.] saul's conversion. 53 

same persecutor is one of the Lord's chosen, to 
proclaim His name to the Gentiles and kings, 
and even to the Jews. So Ananias found his 
way through the crooked lanes of the city, out 
upon the broad open avenue, and coming to the 
house of Judas, asked if there w T as one there 
called Saul from Tarsus. This stranger was 
brought to Saul, and laying his hands upon the 
blind man's head, called him "Brother Saul." 
That one word must have sounded very sweet 
to Saul; for he was friendless now in Da- 
mascus, and everywhere else. His companions 
on the journey had not seen Jesus in the way, 
and could not sympathize with Saul in the change 
of mind and purpose which he had experienced ; 
and what would those who knew him in Jeru- 
salem say when they heard that he had become 
a follower of Jesus ? Ananias has more to say : 
"The Lord, even Jesus, who appeared unto thee 
in the way which thou earnest, hath sent me, that 
thou mayest receive thy sight, and be filled with 
the Holy Ghost." Sight and more ! Immedi- 
ately Saul lifted his eyes, and could see. There 
stood the Ananias of his vision. Saul was filled 
with gladness, because he now knew that the 
Lord Jesus loved him. The old husk of relia- 
ious formalism was broken and thrown away ; 
but he had in its place a Divine Person, whose 
voice he had heard calling him by name. 



54 LIFE OF PAUL. [A.D. 37. 

Henceforth it should be his whole purpose to 
serve this new Master. The zeal which had 
been exerted against Jesus and His followers 
shall from this time spend itself in making His 
name known, and in calling upon men to be- 
lieve on Him. Saul at once submitted himself to 
the initiatory rite of Christian discipleship, and 
the waters of the Abana were sanctified anew 
by a use to which no doubt they had already 
often been put. Then the three days' fast was 
broken by a meal at which all were glad. 

We have the new man before us now, — Saul, 
the Christian ; and he is a much more interesting 
character. To all the strength and force and 
impetuosity of his natural disposition there has 
been added an ardent personal love. All his 
nature is tempered by it. Before he was proud. 
Now he is humble. Before he was revengeful. 
Now his heart is overflowing with forgiveness. 
Before he lived for himself. Now he is to live 
for his fellow-men. Before he sought power 
and renown. Now he is seeking to glorify 
Christ. 

At once we find him, where Stephen was a few 
months before, in the synagogues preaching to 
his own people, the Jews ; and this is his theme, 
as it was of all the apostles, w Jesus, the Son of 
God, died for our sins and rose from the dead." 
How those Jews at Damascus must have won- 



jet.31.] saul's conversion. 55 

dered, — they who had never had a thought or 
experienced a heart-throb outside the narrow 
limits of their law and tradition, and w T ho had 
looked upon Saul as one like themselves ; how 
amazed they must have been to see the flame 
burst from a heart which they supposed was as 
cold as their own, toward all new things in 
religion ! At first thev would not know what 
it meant. Might not this be some stealthy 
masquerade, by which cunning Saul would 
draw the Christians about him only to destroy 
them the more easily? No, — that cannot be. 
He is too intensely in earnest. He must mean 
what he says. They see the man whom they 
had expected to be their champion transformed 
into a stronger and more positive Christian than 
any they had ever met before. 

But Saul's preaching in Damascus at this time 
could not have continued very long. Only for 
a little while did he bear testimony to the fact 
that he had become a follower of the Lord 
Jesus ; for he is not ready yet to enter upon 
the work of an apostle. 



CHAPTEK IV. 

THE CONVERT'S FIRST SIX YEARS. 

" Paul learnt more in Arabia than ever he had learnt at the feet 
of Gamaliel. None can teach like God ; and all who will learn of 
him must be alone with him. 'In the desert God will teach 
thee.'" — C. H. M. 

"He who would not become a merchantman, trafficking with 
Heaven's richest gift in a fatal, soul-ensnaring usury, will often 
withdraw from the crowd, as did our blessed Master ; will often, 
like Paul, the teacher of all love's deepest lessons, retire from the 
souls he ministers to for a season, so that he may abide with them 
forever." — Dora Greenwell. 

XT7"E come now to a period in Saul's life 
" * about which there is room for differences 
of opinion. If we were to read only the ac- 
count in the ninth chapter of the Acts of the 
Apostles, we might think that very soon after 
his conversion, the Jews in Damascus were ex- 
cited by his preaching, and decided to arrest 
and put him to death, and that thereupon he 
fled directly to Jerusalem. But if we turn to 
one of the letters which he wrote a number of 
years afterward, namely, the Epistle to the Gala- 
tians (i. 17-18), we learn that he "went into 
Arabia," came back to Damascus, and that it 
was " three years " before he was in Jerusalem 
56 



JET. 32.] THE CONVERT'S FIRST SIX YEARS. 57 

again. We do not know why Luke, the writer 
of the Acts, omitted this from his account of 
Saul's life ; but we will be perfectly safe in in- 
serting it, on Saul's own authority, at the place 
where it belongs. 

We see Saul, then, leaving the beautiful city 
of Damascus, where such a change had passed 
over his life, and making his way into Arabia. 
How far did he go? We cannot tell. Pos- 
sibly only out into that lonely waste, not many 
days' journey to the southeast of Damascus, 
where he would be safe from his new enemies, 
and at the same time would find undisturbed 
retirement for reflection and meditation. Pos- 
sibly he may have been impelled away to the 
south, across many leagues of uninhabited and 
inhospitable desert, to the barren ridges and 
gloomy defiles of Sinai. Here the law was 
given to Moses. Hither Elijah fled to be taught 
of God, by "the still, small voice." Is it too 
presumptuous to suppose that Saul, the Great 
Apostle of the New Dispensation, might also 
seek this magnificent and awful sanctuary to 
learn more clearly, by prayer and meditation, 
God's purposes for him ? 

Nor are we able to decide with certainty how 
long a time Saul was away in Arabia. Three 
years intervene between his conversion and his 
return to Jerusalem ; and it is probable that but 



58 LIFE OF PAUL. [A.D. 38. 

a small part of this period was spent in Damas- 
cus. When, however, he returns to this city 
again, he is stronger and more positive than ever 
in his attitude as a Christian. For some months 
probably he continued to preach and teach the 
people about Jesus. His reasoning became more 
and more conclusive. There was no one able to 
stand against the flood of his enthusiastic argu- 
ment and eloquence. The most learned Scribes 
were no match for him. But defeat of this kind 
will ever be more exasperating than convincing 
to cold, hard hearts ; and it was not long before 
it began to be whispered about in the higher 
circles of Jewish society in Damascus, cc This 
man is destroying the religion of the fathers. 
Is he not worthy of death ? " And at last the 
lesser Sanhedrim (which was the criminal court 
in all Jewish communities away from Jerusalem) 
was called together, and, after short consultation, 
voted to arrest Saul, and put him to death. 

Saul is now almost thirty-five years old, in the 
very prime of life. It may seem to many not 
a little remarkable that he should have made 
the choice which he did, — abandoning all those 
prospects of advancement and success and popu- 
larity, which are so dear to the hearts of strong 
and active young men, to accept the compan- 
ionship of a small and despised sect, and to 
incur the deadly enmity of his old friends, who 



JET. 35.] THE COXVERT'S FIRST SIX YEARS. 59 

were still in power. But it only shows how 
strong an influence love for Christ may exert. 
Saul loved Jesus, and he could not love Him 
and his old pursuits too. He must make a 
choice, and so he chose, as another great 
man did, " rather to suffer affliction with the 
people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of 
sin." 1 From this time to his death — thirty 
years — Saul labored continually for one object, 
to make Christ known ; and did it in the face 
of incessant opposition ; for the spirit of Jewish 
hatred pursued him everywhere, until at last, 
but not before his work was finished, it com- 
passed his death in martyrdom. 

This first sentence of death made it necessary 
for Saul to fly from Damascus. Through some 
friend he had heard that the warrant had been 
issued for his arrest. No doubt he was willing, 
if need be, to die for Christ's sake ; but the 
other disciples did not think it at all necessary 
that he should fall into the hands of his enemies, 
and they persuaded him, if possible, to leave 
the city. Upon the representation of the Jews 
to the authorities that Saul was a disturber of 
the peace, guards had been set at all the gates, 
so that no one might go out of the city unchal- 
lenged. There was another way, however, to get 
out of Damascus. 

i Heb. xi. 25. 



60 LIFE OF PAUL. [A.D. 41. 

The high wall, which in Saul's day sur- 
rounded the city, is still standing, though par- 
tially in ruins. Close against this wall some 
of the houses of the city were built, many of 
them reaching above the wall, and some of them 
having bay-windows projecting over it. Through 
such a window, after dark, when all was still and 
there was no one to observe his escape, Saul's 
friends put him into a basket and lowered him 
to the ground outside the wall. 

We can imagine the Christian disciples gath- 
ered in that upper room waiting for the hour 
when it would be safe to put Saul out. Ana- 
nias is there. Some one is watching at the 
window to see when the guard is at a safe dis- 
tance. They are all talking hastily and eagerly 
together, though scarcely above a whisper. 
What will the Jews say when they discover that 
Saul has escaped? What if they should pur- 
sue and catch him on the morrow ? Which way 
shall he go ? Saul wants to see Peter, and for 
that reason decides to go directly to Jerusalem. 

It was at noon-day that Saul, — Eabbi, 
Pharisee, Persecutor, — on horseback, with a 
considerable retinue, had approached Damas- 
cus. He leaves it under cover of night, alone 
and on foot, creeping away condemned, as a 
criminal worthy of death, by that same law 
which before he had so zealously obeyed. 



Mt.35.] THE CONVERT'S FIRST SIX YEARS. 61 

The most direct road to Jerusalem must have 
been the one by which Saul went to Damascus. 
Picking his way, then, from the place where he 
was let down to the ground, across the gardens 
and orchards and fields, perhaps leaping or 
wading some of those irrigating canals that ran 
all about the city, he would be likely, as soon 
as it was safe, to strike the highway. Before 
dawn he was climbing the slopes of Anti-Lebanon, 
and when the sun rose over Damascus no doubt 
he turned to take a farewell look at the city, 
w decked in its robes of shining green," which 
had been to him the scene of the beginning of 
a new life, and almost the place of his death. 

But we must not let imagination linger too long 
with Saul on this journey. We do not know what 
regretful memories came up as he retraced the 
steps he had taken three years before ; and, in- 
deed, we may believe that they did not occupy 
his thoughts very much. They must have been 
crow T ded out by the stirring hopes and eager 
purposes with which his devotion to Christ had 
filled his mind. When he came near to Jeru- 
salem, though, the recollections of the old asso- 
ciations must have swept in upon him ; for 
Saul had a warm heart, and the ties of friend- 
ship are always dear to such. His old com- 
panions, Scribes and Pharisees ; the High Priest, 
whose letters he carried away with him ; his 



62 LIFE OF PAUL. [A.D. 41. 

beloved and now venerable teacher, Gamaliel, 
— what would they all say of him ? They would 
despise him, of course, as a turncoat ; and they 
would kill him, if they could. This he knew 
well enough. But even if they did despise 
him, there were some others in Jerusalem who 
would welcome him. The disciples of Christ 
there would receive him as a brother. So, back 
to the city of his fathers' God he comes, past the 
place where Jesus was crucified, and the spot 
where Stephen was stoned, and into the streets 
with which he was so familiar. His steps do 
not turn toward the Temple. He is looking for 
Peter. He inquires of one and another. He 
attempts to make the acquaintance of some 
who he knows are followers of Christ, but 
they are all afraid of him ; and even, when he 
tells them that he has become a disciple him- 
self, they will not believe him. At length 
he found his old friend and school-fellow, Bar- 
nabas, who had been a disciple of Christ for 
several years, and who had given his money 
generously for the spread of the Gospel. He, 
knowing that Saul could not be a hypocrite, 
listened with joy to the story of his conversion, 
and at once took him to the house of Peter, 
who at that time was pastor of the church at 
Jerusalem, 1 and who, with his generous, enthu- 

1 " Smith's Bible Dictionary," in. 2451. 



JEt.35.] THE CONVERT'S FIRST SIX YEARS. 63 

siastic disposition, welcomed Saul as his guest. 
Fifteen short days Saul spent here. He met 
James, who seems to have been the only other 
apostle in Jerusalem at this time ; but most of 
the time was spent with Peter. It would be a 
delight to hear from Peter about Jesus ; for 
Peter had been with Him so much. Probably 
during this visit Saul acquired most of that 
familiarity with the teachings of Jesus, which 
afterward made his own preaching and writing 
so clearly a repetition and development of what 
Jesus himself had said. 

Here, though, as in Damascus the Sabbath 
found Saul in the synagogues. "The same zeal 
which had caused his voice to be heard in the 
Hellenistic synagogues in the persecution against 
Stephen now led Saul in the same synagogues 
to declare, fearlessly, his adherence to Stephen's 
cause. The same fury which had caused the 
murder of Stephen now brought the murderer 
of Stephen to the verge of assassination." 1 
The Jews would not let Saul live and preach 
Christ. His influence was too great. They 
could endure James, for he was unenthusiastic. 
They would let Peter preach, for he belonged 
to the common people, and was uneducated ; 
but Saul had been an aristocrat, and was ac- 
quainted by education with the strength and 

i Howson: " St. Paul," I. 103. 



64 LIFE OF PAUL. [A.D. 41. 

weakness of Judaism. Here was a knight with 
trenchant sword, who knew how to wield his 
sword, and who also was acquainted with every 
flaw in his opponent's armor. Such a knight 
must not be allowed in the lists. "They went 
about to slay him." 

Saul was not easily driven from a work which 
he earnestly wanted to do. He had persecuted 
the disciples of Christ before in Jerusalem, and 
he was anxious now to do all he could for their 
cause. But the Lord's ways are not always 
man's ways, 1 and Saul would rather do what the 
Lord wanted him to than to follow out his own 
inclinations. In a speech that he made twenty 
years afterward, 2 while standing on the castle 
stairs in the Temple-court, he related how he 
came to leave Jerusalem on this occasion. He 
was praying in the Temple, — probably that he 
might learn what his next step ought to be. 
While praying, he says, he fell into a trance, 
and the Lord spoke to him: "Make haste; 
leave Jerusalem ; the people here will not be- 
lieve what you have to say." But he still 
wanted to remain, and he parleyed with the 
divine command until it was repeated briefly 

1 Very different are the intentions of God respecting our future 
disposal from the intentions of ourselves and our friends. Saul, 
perhaps, expected to spend many years at Jerusalem ; the Almighty 
had appointed that he should remain there fifteen days. — Blunt: 
" Histoiy of St. Paul," 71. 2 Acts xxii. 



^p.35.] THE CONVERT'S FIRST SIX YEARS. 65 

and emphatically. "Go! for I will send thee 
far away to the Gentiles." Then he was per- 
suaded. Some of the Christian brethren went 
with him down to Csesarea, and saw him on 
board ship for his native city, Tarsus, where, 
for the present, we must leave him. 






CHAPTER V. 

ANTIOCH OF SYRIA. 

" It is probable that no populations have ever been more 
abandoned than those of Oriental Greek cities under the Roman 
Empire ; and of these cities Antioch was the greatest and the 
worst.' , — J. S. Howson. 

" O thou, resort and mart of all the earth, 
Chequer'd with all complexions of mankind, 
And spotted with all crimes ; in which I see 
Much that I love, and more that I admire, 
And all that I abhor ; thou freckled fair, 
That pleases and vet shocks me, I can laugh 
And I can weep, can hope and can despond, 
Feel wrath and pity, when I think on thee ! " 

Wm. Cowper. 

X1THILE Saul is at Tarsus we turn our 
* " faces toward another city, Antioch, the 
capital of Syria. 

In the snowy ravines of that same mountain 
range of Anti-Lebanon in which the Abana of 
Damascus takes its rise we find the sources of 
another river, on whose banks we trace the 
footsteps of the great Apostle. This river, the 
Orontes, runs almost due north for two hundred 
miles, until, near that angle where the northern 
and eastern shores of the Mediterranean meet, 
it makes an abrupt turn around Mount Silpius, 



jEt.35.] ANTIOCH OF SYRIA. 

and falls rapidly in a southwesterly direction 
to the sea. There is an old fable that the bed 
of this river was formed by the writhing of 
the snake-legged giant, Typhon, when he was 
struck with a thunderbolt by Jupiter, and that 
the source of the river in the Anti-Lebanon is 
the hole through which Typhon escaped into the 
earth. Sixteen miles from the Mediterranean, 
the Orontes is a river one hundred and twenty- 
five feet wide. At this point its course is 
through a fertile valley, which on the south 
side rises first gradually, but soon very sharply, 
to the mountain Silpius, the - overhanging crests 
of which are from one to two miles from the 
river. In this valley, between the mountain 
and the river, and hugging closely the low bank, 
is AntaJcieh, M a shrunken and miserable place," 
studded "with squalid hovels of mud and straw." 
Mr. Bayard Taylor visited Antakieh in June, 
1852. He had been skirting the eastern coast 
of the Mediterranean in a Syrian yacht ; and 
stopping at Suediah at the mouth of the 
Orontes, rode up to the ancient capital. His 
description of that ride is so vivid that it almost 
transports the reader to the bank of the rippling 
river, and ravishes him with the sights and 
sounds and odors of another paradise ; while 
the single realistic touch with which it closes 
sets us in the heart of the Turkish town. 



68 LIFE OF PAUL. [A.D. 41. 

ff Our way was overhung with hedges of 
pomegranate, myrtle, oleander and white rose, 
in blossom, and occasionally with quince, fig, 
and carob-trees, laced together with grape-vines 
in fragrant bloom. Sometimes this wilderness 
of color and odor met above our heads and 
made a twilight; then it opened into long, 
dazzling, sun-bright vistas, where the hues of 
the oleander, pomegranate and white rose made 
the eye wink with their gorgeous profusion. 
The mountains we crossed were covered with 
thickets of myrtle, mastic, daphne and arbutus, 
and all the valleys and sloping meads waved 
with fig, mulberry and olive-trees. Looking 
towards the sea, the valley broadened out be- 
tween mountain ranges whose summits were 
lost in the clouds. Though the soil was not so 
rich as in Palestine, the general aspect of the 
country was much wilder and more luxuriant. 

"So, by this glorious scene, over the myrtled 
hills and down into valleys, whose bed was one 
hue of rose from the blossoming oleanders, we 
travelled for five hours, crossing the low range 
of hills through which the Orontes forces his way 
to the sea. At last we reached a height over- 
looking the valley of the river, and saw in the 
east, at the foot of the mountain-chain, the long 
line of barracks built by Ibrahim Pasha for the 
defence of Antioch. Behind them the ancient 



JET. 35.] AXTIOCH OF SYRIA. 69 

wall of the city clomb the mountains, whose 
crest it followed to the last peak of the chain. 
From the next hill we saw the city, — a large 
extent of one-story houses with tiled roofs, 
surrounded with gardens and half buried in the 
foliage of sycamores. It extends from the 
river Orontes, which washes its walls, up the 
slope of the mountain to the crags of gray rock 
which overhang it. We crossed the river by a 
massive old bridge, and entered the town. 
Riding alono- the rills of filth which traverse 
the streets, forming their central avenues, we 
passed through several lines of bazaars to a 
large and dreary-looking khan, the keeper of 
which gave us the best vacant chamber, — a 
narrow place, full of fleas/' 1 

This Antakieh, then, is only another low, 
flat-roofed, filthy Oriental town, in which five or 
six thousand children of the sun spend their 
lazy days under the bright Syrian sky, the nar- 
row streets of which are the common loun°'inof- 
place of babies, beggars, dogs, and donkeys. 
To be sure, it is surrounded with scenery pleas- 
ant to look upon, and the soil is good. Anta- 
kieh, however, produces almost nothing but a 
small quantity of indifferent leather, some to- 
bacco, and a few mulberry-trees. But the An- 
tioch of the first Christian century was the 

1 " The Lauds of the Saracens," chap. xiv. 



70 LIFE OF PAUL. [A.D. 41. 

second, and almost the third, city of the world 
for the wealth of its citizens, the magnificence 
of its architecture, its social, intellectual, and 
political standing. It was one of the many 
cities founded by that Seleucus Nicator who, 
about 300 B. C, became the king of Syria, and 
established the dynasty, which, from that time 
to its close, is known by his name, — the Seleu- 
cidse. This prince must have had a passion for 
building cities. He built six Laodiceas, and 
named them in honor of his mother ; one Apamea, 
in honor of his wife ; nine Seleucias to bear his 
own name to posterity ; and sixteen Antiochs to 
immortalize the name of his father. Two of these 
Antiochs of Seleucus occupy places in the career 
of Saul ; but this one on the Orontes far sur- 
passed all the others. From the beginning its 
growth was rapid. This was due at first, 
no doubt, largely to its situation, which had 
been fortunately selected ; for it stood on the 
most crowded thoroughfare between the East 
and the West. The valley of the Orontes above 
Antioch afforded a passage through the moun- 
tains always open for heavily-laden caravans from 
Persia and Arabia, while the harbor at the river's 
mouth furnished a spacious receptacle for the 
merchandize of Alexandria, Italy, and Greece. 
Besides, many rich and luxurious families were 
attracted by the delightful climate to select the 



JSt.35.] AKTIOCH OF SYElA. 11 

growing city as a place of residence. In these 
ways it came about in the course of years, that 
Antioch was a large city, when at the time 
of the Roman conquest, B. C. 65, it received 
the finishing touches of magnificence under the 
hands of the Roman emperors. A prodigious 
wall, fifty feet high, and many miles in length, 
carried up and along the precipitous crest of 
Mount Silpius, encompassed the city. Its ruins 
stand out to-day on the ridge of the mountain 
against the southern sky like the tremendous 
battlements of some giant's castle. ff The Great 
Corso" traversed the city from east to west, 
nearly parallel with the river. This, after the 
fashion in ancient Oriental capitals, consisted of 
two covered colonnades. Between these ran a 
broad avenue, two miles of which, or nearly 
half its length, was paved with white mar- 
ble. There was an aqueduct and public baths, 
theatres, temples, palaces, and fortresses. The 
population of Antioch at the beginning of 
the Christian era is estimated at about half a 
million. 

But the pride and boast of Antioch was out- 
side the city- walls. Let us take our place on 
that fashionable promenade through the city, 
with our faces toward the west. Renan's de- 
scription of Daphne will help us to comprehend 
our surroundings. "The Great Corso, which 



f2 LIFE OF PAUL. [A.D. 41. 

traversed the city, was like a theatre, in which 
all day long rolled the waves of a population 
empty, frivolous, fickle, turbulent, sometimes 
witty, absorbed in songs, parodies, pleasant- 
ries, and impertinences of every description." 1 
Moving along with the crowd, we pass out of 
the city at the Gate of the Cherubim, or pos- 
sibly at the Golden Gate. A well-travelled 
avenue, down which bowls many a chariot car- 
rying Roman pleasure-seekers, Greek voluptu- 
aries, and Syrian girls, 2 stretches along the river 
bank about five miles to ■ the famous suburb 
of Daphne. Thitherward we are borne, and 
reaching the destination of the multitudes, our 
eyes are greeted with a view of one of the most 
perfect paradises that nature and art ever com- 
bined to make. Any new attempt to describe 
Daphne to one who has read the description in 
the twenty-third chapter of the ?f Decline and 
Fall " must at best be a partial failure. 

w At the distance of five miles from Antioch, 
the Macedonian kings of Syria had consecrated 
to Apollo one of the most elegant places of de- 
votion in the Pagan world. A magnificent 
temple rose in honor of the god of light ; and 
his colossal figure almost filled the capacious 

i Farrar: "Life of Paul," I. 294, note. 

2 "Those Syrian women were always strange creatures, dis- 
puted for by God and Satan, and oscillating between the saint and 
the demon/' —Kenan : " Apostles," p. 248. 



SIT. 35.] ANTIOCH OF SYRIA. 73 

sanctuary, which was enriched with gold and 
gems, and adorned by the skill of the Grecian 
artists. The deity was represented in a bend- 
ing attitude, with a golden cup in his hand, 
pouring out a libation on the earth. ... In 
the adjacent fields a stadium was built . . . 
the Olympic games were celebrated at the ex- 
pense of the city, and a revenue of thirty thou- 
sand pounds was annually applied to the public 
pleasures. The perpetual resort of pilgrims 
and spectators insensibly formed, in the neigh- 
borhood of the temple, the stately and populous 
village of Daphne, which emulated the splendor, 
without acquiring the title, of a provincial city. 
The temple and the village were deeply-bosomed 
in a thick grove of laurels and cypresses, which 
reached as far as a circumference of ten miles. 
and formed in the most sultry summers a cool 
and impenetrable shade. A thousand streams 
of the purest water, issuing from every hill, 
preserved the verdure of the earth and the 
temperature of the air ; the senses were grati- 
fied with harmonious sounds and aromatic 
odors ; and the peaceful grove was consecrated 
to health and joy, to luxury and love. The 
soldier and the philosopher wisely avoided the 
temptation of this sensual paradise : where 
pleasure, assuming the character of religion. 
imperceptibly dissolved the firmness of manly 



74 LIFE OF PAUL. [A.D. 41. 

virtue. But the groves of Daphne continued 
for many ages to enjoy the veneration of natives 
and strangers ; the privileges of the holy ground 
were enlarged by the munificence of succeeding 
emperors ; and every generation added new 
ornaments to the splendor of the temple." 

Antioch swarmed with a cosmopolitan popu- 
lation, a considerable proportion of which were 
according to the flesh, children of Abraham, 
who possessed here equal rights with men of 
other nations. Of course the wealthy Greeks, 
whose fathers and grandfathers had made An- 
tioch what it was, with the civil and military 
officials, who constituted the Eoman court and 
its appendages, were the aristocracy of the city, 
while the native Syrians — men, women, boys, 
and girls — made up the working class and slaves. 
All this, — her situation on the river among the 
mountains, yet near the sea; her luxurious, 
enervating climate ; her prosperity in trade ; her 
increasing wealth ; her extravagance ; her hete- 
rogeneous populations, the great social sep- 
aration between aristocrats and slaves on the 
one hand, and their indiscriminate mingling on 
the other ; her brutalizing sports and lewd 
dramatic exhibitions ; her sensuous religious 
ceremonials and festivals, — all combined to pro- 
duce in the beautiful valley of the Orontes the 
worst and most poisonous spot of moral corrup- 



Mr. 35.] AXTIOCH OF SYRIA. 75 

tion that has ever broken out upon the face of 
the earth. Nor did the literary and intellectual 
activity of the city improve this condition ; but 
rather heated and stimulated the festering im- 
morality. "God was not in all their thoughts" l 
and atheism in such a hotbed bore only its 
native fruit. Frivolity and profligacy held 
unceasing carnival, — "a perpetual festival of 
vice/' 

It was necessary that we should delay our 
attention through these few pages in order to 
present to ourselves a view of the charactei 
of that city which stands second only to Jeru- 
salem in the annals of Christianity. Meanwhile 
Saul has been in the region of Syria and Cilicia, 
with his headquarters at Tarsus, among the 
acquaintances of his youth. We will take up 
the thread of his life again ; after first noticing 
the series of events that resulted in his coming 
from Tarsus to Antioch. 

1 Psalm x. 4. 



CHAPTEK VI. 

THE FIRST TEN YEARS AFTER CHRIST. 

" The light that gleamed on Juda's hills, 
First kindled by the touch of God, 
Now all the dome of nature fills, 
And heralds truth where error trod." 

Anon. 

" Even with so soft a surge and an increasing, 
drunk of the sand and thwarted of the clod, 
stilled and astir and checked and never-ceasing 
spreadeth the great wave of the grace of God." 

F. W. H. Myers, 

A CTS xi. 19-21 furnishes an excellent start- 
-^- ing-point for a brief account of the first 
spreading movement of Christianity. "They 
therefore who were scattered abroad upon the 
tribulation that arose about Stephen travelled 
as far as Phoenicia, and Cyprus, and Antioch, 
speaking the word to none save only to Jews. 
But there were some of them, men of Cyprus and 
Cyrene, who, when they were come to Antioch, 
spake unto the Greeks also, preaching the Lord 
Jesus. And the hand of the Lord was with 
them : and a great number that believed turned 
unto the Lord." 

Following Lewin's chronology, we may assume 
76 



JET. 35.] FIRST TEN YEARS AFTER CHRIST. 77 

that the death of Stephen occurred four years 
after the crucifixion of our Lord, during which 
time the growth of Christianity seems to have 
been confined entirely to Jerusalem and its 
immediate vicinity. The events, as related by 
Luke in the first five chapters of Acts, are, the 
selection of Matthias to be an apostle in the 
place of Judas, i. 15-26 ; the miraculous mani- 
festation of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pen- 
tecost followed by Peter's 'preaching and the 
conversion of three thousand, ii. 1-47 ; the 
curing of a cripple at the Gate Beautiful, iii. 1- 
11 ; the arrest, examination, and threatening of 
Peter and John, iv. 1-22 ; their continual preach- 
ing with additional converts among whom ap- 
pears for the first time Barnabas of Cyprus, iv. 
23-37 ; the lies and sudden deaths of Ananias 
and Sapphira, v. 1-10 ; the performance of 
many miracles by the Apostles, v. 15-16 ; their 
second arrest when, after being put in prison, 
they were delivered by an angel, v. 17-23 ; their 
third arrest when having been beaten they 
were delivered by the advice of Gamaliel from 
the intention of the severer members of the San- 
hedrim to put them to death, v. 24-40 ; their un- 
conquerable zeal in that w the} 7 ceased not to 
teach and preach Jesus Christ," v. 42. All 
this took place at Jerusalem ; but it was not 
the intention of Jesus that his followers should 



78 LIFE OF PAUL. [A.D. 41. 

be only Jews or residents of Palestine. Other 
countries, and people of other tongues, many 
who had not heard the Hebrew scriptures, 
or known the Mosaic law, must hear and be 
blessed by the words of Christ. The Apostles 
themselves did not understand this at first. 
Peter even was slow to learn it. James and 
the other leaders were still slower to admit 
that the Gentiles might receive the favor of 
God. So the Apostles settled, very well con- 
tent with the result of their work, in the city 
of their fathers. The opposition with which 
they had to contend for the first four years was 
not of so severe a type as to raise the question 
of selecting some other field for preaching. 

But the cruel blow which killed Stephen 
(chaps, vi. and vii.) scattered the flaming brands 
to kindle beacon-fires upon many a distant hill- 
side. At first all the disciples, except the 
Apostles, were scattered through Judea and 
Samaria, vi. 1. Of these was Philip (not the 
Apostle, but the deacon, cf. vi. 5). We see 
him north of Jerusalem in the city of Samaria, 
telling even the hated Samaritans about Jesus ; 
then south on the way to Gaza, where an 
Ethiopian eunuch is converted and baptized ; and 
soon at Azotus, from which he preaches through 
the towns and villages until he comes to Caesarea. 
The Gospel is spreading toward the Gentiles. 



Mt. 35.] FIRST TEN YEARS AFTER CHRIST. 79 

Already at the end of three years from Ste- 
phen's death, when Saul came back from Da- 
mascus to Jerusalem, there were w churches " all 
through Judea, Samaria, and Galilee, ix. 31. 
Still the middle wall is not broken down. 
The Samaritans were Samaritan Jews ; the 
Ethiopian was a Jewish proselyte, who was 
reading the prophet Isaiah at the time of his 
conversion. There was a manifest tendency to 
extend the blessings of the Gospel beyond the 
strictest sect of Jews ; but the entire breadth of 
Christ's purpose had not yet dawned upon the 
Apostles. 

After Saul's second visit to Jerusalem and 
departure to Tarsus, Peter made a tour of the 
churches in Palestine, and came around to 
Joppa, the most ancient seaport of the Eastern 
Mediterranean, where he spent some time in the 
house of Simon, a tanner. Thirty miles north 
of Joppa was the new and beautiful city of 
Oesarea, built by Herod the Great, about B. C. 
20. It was the Roman capital of the province 
of Palestine, the official residence of the Herods, 
and the principal military post in the province. 
Festus, Felix, and other Roman governors of 
Palestine also made their residence here. Csesa- 
rea had a fine harbor, protected by an artificial 
breakwater of magnificent proportions, which 
added to its mercantile importance. There 



80 LIFE OF PAUL. [A.D. 41. 

were many handsome buildings, almost all of 
them, however, erected specifically for Eoman 
uses. It was " filled with temples and embel- 
lished with statues, giving it the appearance 
of an entirely heathen city." l We have already 
followed Saul, when, with hasty footsteps, he 
passed through Ceesarea on the way to Tarsus ; 
and we will see him here again several times, 
the last of which detained him tw T o years as a 
prisoner. We are tracing just now, however, 
not the special course of Saul, but some of the 
indications of that movement which carried 
Christianity beyond the bounds of Judaism, and 
brought it to the Gentiles. And here at Caesa- 
rea one such event occurred, — the event, indeed, 
which not only marks the point at w-hich the 
rising wave of Christianity broke, but which 
also taught to Jew and Gentile alike, that hence- 
forth the tide could be restrained no longer be- 
hind any barriers of tradition or sectarianism. 

Peter is still in the antiquated Jewish town. 
Surely his scruples must have been changed 
greatly, or he would not be lodging in Simon's 
house ; for a scrupulous Jew w r ould not cross 
the threshold of one so unclean as a tanner. 
But here he is ; and just before noon, the last 
day of his visit, he retires to the quiet of the 
"housetop" (the upper chamber of an Eastern 

1 Malleson : " St. Paul," p. 88. 



Mt. 35.1 FIRST TEN YEARS AFTER CHRIST. 81 

house) to pray. We do not know what great 
thoughts of the kingdom of Christ may be press- 
ing upon him, what questions he may be long- 
ing to solve, what plans for the churches and 
their spread and growth he may be maturing, 
nor what obstacles are before him. We may 
be sure, though, that the care of the churches 
is upon him as he goes up to pray. Farrar 
sketches, in his inimitable way, the scene upon 
which Peter gazed from Simon's housetop : 
^ A small Oriental town, with the outline of its 
flat roofs and low square houses relieved by trees 
and gardens ; a line of low dunes and sandy 
shore ; a sea stretching far away to the Isles of 
the Gentiles. ... It is a meeting-point of the 
East and West. Behind us lie Philistia and 
the Holy Land. Beyond the Jordan, and be- 
yond the purple hills which form the eastern 
ramparts of its valley, and far away beyond 
the Euphrates, were the countries of those im- 
memorial and colossal despotisms — the giant 
forms of empires which had passed long ago ? on 
their wa} r to ruin:' before us — a highway for 
the nations — are the inland waters of the sea 
whose shores during long ages of history have 
been the scene of all that is best and greatest in 
the progress of mankind." 1 

Here Peter prayed, and while he waited, 

i «! St. Paul," i. 270. 



82 LIFE OF PAUL. tA.D.41 

hungry, he slept or fell into a trance, and saw a 
vision; — a sheet let down from heaven, and in 
it all kinds of four-footed beasts, creeping things, 
and birds, clean and unclean, but the touch of 
the unclean polluting for a Jew, even that which 
otherwise would have been clean. Gazing upon 
this strange sight, he heard a voice, that said, 
" Eise, Peter, kill and eat." ?f What ! I, a Jew, 
to satisfy my hunger, eat that which the law 
pronounces unclean ! Not so, Lord ; for I have 
iiever eaten anything that is common or un- 
clean." He was faithful to that part of the 
letter of the law which he comprehended ; but 
he must have forgotten or failed to understand 
many things which Jesus had said in his hear- 
ing ; for this legal scrupulosity pronounced not 
only certain kinds of food which Gentiles ate 
unclean, but also that the Gentiles themselves 
were unclean and not to be associated with by 
Jews. Peter, however, was naturally generous ; 
and this tradition must have seemed to him an 
inconvenient restriction rather than a covetable 
distinction. It stood in the way of the spread 
of the Gospel ; and the Gospel, we may presume, 
was rapidly rising in Peter's mind above the 
law of Moses and the tradition of the Elders. 
Here, then, while praying, the Lord taught this 
Apostle that final lesson of Christian brotherhood 
and fellowship, " What God hath cleansed, that 



Mt. M.] FIRST TEN YEARS AFTER CHRIST. 83 

call not thou common." It was so sudden that, 
at the very first, he could not quite believe it ; 
but rapidly and gladly he let it transform his 
heart. 

While Peter is praying at Joppa there is 
another praying in fashionable, gay Csesarea. 
This man is a Roman aristocrat, an army offi- 
cer, commander of a select regiment stationed 
at this court-city. We must remember that 
Philip had visited Csesarea, 1 and that it is not 
improbable that this officer, Cornelius, had heard 
him preach. At any rate, Cornelius was a man 
of prayer and of good works. An angel bade 
him send to Joppa for Peter. Three men, — two 
servants and a devout soldier, — hastened away, 
travelling all night, and reached Simon's house 
before Peter had come down from the housetop. 
When Peter reached Csesarea he found a large 
number gathered at the house of Cornelius to 
see and hear him. He met them graciously and 
magnanimously, and, after relating the circum- 
stances by which he had been led to lay aside 
the scruples which heretofore had prevented his 
associating with Gentiles, he told them about 
Jesus, and his readiness to forgive sins. The 
result is described by Luke in a few simple 
words: "While Peter yet spake these words, 
the Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard 

i See page 78. 



84 LIFE OF PAUL. [A.D. 42. 

the word. And they of the Circumcision which 
believed were amazed, as many as came with 
Peter, because that on the Gentiles also was 
poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost. For 
they heard them speak with tongues and mag- 
nify God. Then, answered Peter, Can any man 
forbid water, that these should not be baptized, 
which have received the Holy Ghost, as well as 
we ? And he commanded them to be baptized 
in the name of Jesus Christ." 

The news of this remarkable act of Peter flew 
to Jerusalem, and as soon as he returned there 
he was called upon by the Jewish Christians 
for an explanation of his conduct. He rehearsed 
all, and their hearts too w^ere touched and 
opened ; their objections were removed ; they 
"glorified God, saying, then to the Gentiles 
also hath God granted repentance unto life." 
The Gospel has spread to the Gentiles. 

Another movement still farther north com- 
pletes the chain of events which prepared the 
way for Saul's work. The disciples who had 
fled from Jerusalem preached the Gospel to 
Jews only ; but there were some great souls, 
Christian men, whose names we do not know, 
from the Island of Cyprus, and from the city 
of Cyrene, a thousand miles away on the north- 
ern shore of Africa, who came to Antioch, and 
there proclaimed to Jews and" Greeks alike the 



Mt. 36.] FIRST TEN TEAKS AFTER CHRIST. 85 

"glad tidings of great joy." What a field for 
the Gospel ! Luxury and sin are not long 
satisfactory. There were in the Syrian capital 
thousands of sin-stained, disappointed, dis- 
couraged, broken hearts ; thousands of ambi- 
tious, unsatisfied souls ; thousands of eager 
seekers after a better way of life, to whom the 
Gospel came as the best news they had ever 
heard. It is little wonder that extraordinary 
success attended the preaching of the Word, 
and that very many became the followers of 
Jesus. When the church at Jerusalem heard 
this good news they immediately sent Barnabas 
to Antioch to help on the work and to assist 
(for which he was admirably fitted both by his 
natural disposition and his experience) in in- 
structing and organizing the large number of 
new converts just out of the most depraved 
heathenism. But on his reaching the city, the 
magnitude of the movement was such that Bar- 
nabas did not feel adequate alone to assume the 
responsibility of leadership. He was a " son of 
exhortation ; " and, being very glad to see in this 
city, long famous for its pride and corruption, 
so many followers of the pure and lowly Jesus, 
"he exhorted them all that with purpose of 
heart they would cleave unto the Lord." Then 
he went to Tarsus to find Saul. 



CHAPTER VII. 

THE WORK AND THE MAN. 

" The sun cannot be hid 
The heavens amid. 
The sun is seen, because he shines, 
And the sun shines, because he is the sun." 

Wm. C. Wilkinson. 

" The first knowledge that the population of Antioch had of the 
presence of him whom we know as the Great Apostle was that a new 
shop had been opened by a Cilician Jew for the sale of tents and 
sackcloth." — E. H. Plumptre. 

TTE who arranges the order of events, and 
-*—*- ordains that certain chosen men are to do 
certain definite work, never makes a mistake. 

Saul has been at Tarsus three years, and the 
world outside of Cilicia knows nothing about 
him. His very existence is almost forgotten. 
Gamaliel probably, as he thinks over his former 
pupils, wonders what has become of that boy 
Saul, who promised so well, but turned out so 
badly. There are certain Christians at Damas- 
cus, who recall him as a meteor that shot across 
their sky. James and Peter at Jerusalem, and 
Barnabas, who has just gone down to Antioch, 
have rarely mentioned his name. They have 
been very much engaged with their great wo^k 
86 



A*,**.] The work and the mak. 87 

of spreading the Gospel ; and busy men, though 
they may not forget, do not talk much, about 
the absent. But we must believe that it mat- 
tered little to Saul whether the world had 
forgotten him or not. He was not panting 
after popularity ; but he was eager to make 
Christ known. If he went back to Tarsus a 
disciple of Christ, it was not to let his light be 
hid under a bushel. His father and mother, if 
they were still living, were probably grieved that 
their son should have departed from the belief 
of his countrymen, and should have yielded 
to the persuasion that Jesus of Nazareth was 
the expected Messiah. And there were doubt- 
less many neighbors and acquaintances who 
sympathized with them in their disappointment. 
All this was not easy for Saul to meet on his 
return to his native city. Besides, he came 
back as a fugitive seeking a hiding-place. In 
no city where he had been since his conversion, 
had his life been secure a day from the plottings 
of the Jews, who thought it would be doing God 
service to put him to death. An ordinary man 
would have suffered very bitter dejection when 
he reflected that these were the results of be- 
coming a follower of Christ. But it did not 
take Saul long to recover himself, even if he 
were cast down. He never doubted that he was 
right. "I know whom I have believed," was 

© 7 



88 LIFE OF PAUL. [A.D. 44. 

from the first his watchword. We are not sur- 
prised, then, to find, a few years later in his life, l 
a reference made to churches existing in " Syria 
and Cilicia," the origin of which can only be 
accounted for by supposing that Paul's sojourn 
at Tarsus at this time was passed in preaching the 
Gospel to the people of that city, and in the 
towns and villages for many miles around. 

Saul is now nearly forty years old, and has 
already had a large experience. In the city and 
in the country, in the workshop and in the school- 
room, among the illiterate and among the most 
highly-educated, a Scribe, a lawyer, a judge, 
an exhorter in the synagogues, an envoy of the 
Sanhedrim, with power of life and death, a fugi- 
tive hunted from city to city, — in every way 
Saul had learnt the sharp lessons of life. 

There are two things about Saul that at this 
point — just as we are starting out with him 
for his twenty years of missionary life — we 
would all like to know, viz., how he looked, 1 
and what his natural disposition or character 

1 Acts xvi. 41. 

2 " If he had been pointed out to us in some corner of Corinth, 
Athens, or Rome, we could scarcely have believed our eyes. 
What! — we should sa} T , perhaps — that man, so inconsiderable in 
appearance, so fearful and trembling; that man, with a body so 
feeble, his language common, his speech contemptible ; that man, 
who drags from place to place that grievous thorn in his flesh, — 
is Saint Paul, is the Apostle of Apostles ? " 

Adolphe Monod: " Saint Paul," p. 119. 



m-£. 38.] THE WORK AXD THE MAN. 89 

was. On the first of these points we have but 
little information, and most of this is unsat- 
isfactory. There are several intimations in 
2 Cor. x. that the Apostle was a small man. 
Chrysostom called him "the three-cubit man.*' 
In the Vatican library in Rome there is a bronze 
medal which was found in the Cemetery of Dom- 
itilla and which must have been made within 
fifty years of Saul's death. The heads of Peter 
and Paul are on it, and they are presumed to 
be fairty correct likenesses. w That of Paul 
in particular/' says Lewin, describing the por- 
traits, "is distinguished by solemnity and dig- 
nity, and the thoughtful and wrinkled brow 
indicates the high intellect that so remarkably 
characterized the man." There is a striking 
resemblance between this and the head of the 
Apostle painted by Raphael. There are two 
descriptions of Saul's personal appearance, both 
of which are quoted by Lewin, as well as by 
Farrar. The first is from the pen of John of 
Antioch : "Paul was in person round-shouldered, 
with a sprinkling of gray on his head and beard, 
with an aquiline nose, meeting eyebrows, with a 
mixture of pale and red in his complexion, and 
an ample beard. With a genial expression of 
countenance, he was sensible, earnest, easily 
accessible, sweet, and inspired with the Holy 
Spirit." 



90 LITE OF PAUL. [A.D.44. 

The second is from Nicephorus, and was 
written in the fifteenth century : — 

"Paul was little and dwarfish in person, and 
slightly crooked and somewhat stooping ; his 
face was fair and comely ; bald-headed, with 
light blue eyes ; the nose hooked ; the beard 
long and thick, with white hairs well sprinkled 
over both head and beard." 

In addition to these intimations, there is a 
tradition that the Apostle's K light blue eyes ?? 
were affected by a disease not uncommon in 
Eastern countries, and that at times, consequent 
upon over-exertion or exposure, he was liable 
to severe and painful attacks, which not infre- 
quently rendered him entirely blind, and which 
may have been that " thorn in the flesh " from 
which he prayed in vain to be delivered. 

The physical proportions, however, and per- 
sonal appearance of such a man as Saul are of 
less interest than the traits of his natural dispo- 
sition, and the elements of his character as de- 
veloped by faith in, and obedience to Jesus 
Christ. And for the investigation of this point, 
there is abundant opportunity and a fruitful 
field. While we have such a scarcity of mate- 
rial for reproducing a picture of his outward 
form, no man of antiquity has spread out his 
very heart for the gaze of the whole world as 
Saul^ has. In the thirteen letters that have 



^t. 38.] THE WORK AND THE MAN. 91 

been preserved, and in the speeches that he 
made at different times, which are reported in 
the Acts of the Apostles, he tells us, no doubt 
without intending to, what kind of man he was. 
We do not have to read between his lines to 
discover the character of Saul. 1 

TTe have some glimpses of what that charac- 
ter must have been before his conversion. And 
we must place first of all, because it was the 
grand controlling element of his whole career, 
even before he became a follower of Christ, his 
thorough conscientiousness. Whatever else Saul 
of Tarsus was, he was a youth who reverenced 
God, and, so far as he knew, chose to do what 
was right in His sight. There was no lack of 
thorough-going principle in his conduct. He 
was resolute, firm, rigid, in his adherence to 
what he conceived to be his duty. His educa- 
tion had led him to believe that the law of 
Moses and the Jewish ritual were the highest 
expressions of right. These formed a wall 
over which he could not see until after his con- 
version ; but inside that narrow life he would 
have suffered death rather than to have been 
disobedient to what he conceived to be the will of 

1 The mere titles of Howson's chapters, in his " Character of 
St. Paul," are instructive : 

I. Tact and Presence of Mind ; II. Tenderness and Svmpathy ; 
III. Conscientiousness and Integrity; IV. Thanksgiving and 
Prayer; V. Courage and Perseverance. ^ 



92 LIFE OF PAUL. [A.D. 44. 

God. Now if we add to this trait of conscien- 
tiousness another, viz., ambition, we shall have 
described the two great features of his char- 
acter. There is no doubt that it was the dream 
of Saul's boyhood to do some great thing, and 
to become famous. It was this that pushed 
him out ahead of his fellows. It was his eager 
ambition, coupled with his conscientiousness, 
which, when no other young Jew in Jerusa- 
lem cared to undertake it, spurred on Saul to 
request a special commission of persecution 
against a sect which he verily believed was 
blaspheming the Law, the Temple, and his 
God. 

But in his life after conversion, there appears 
a very rich cluster of ripening fruits. All that 
clear conscientiousness and forceful ambition, 
all the energy of his will, the uncommon quick- 
ness of his thought, the depth and tenderness 
of his feeling, the strength and force of his 
reasoning, his discernment of men, and his mas- 
terly method, 1 were consecrated to the service 
of Christ, and became beautiful. Then we see 
his rare devotion to the Lord, carrying him 
away from all his former life, until he can say, 
out of a glad heart, too, that he counts every- 
thing else worthless if he can only have Christ ; 2 

i W. T. Besser : " St. Paul the Apostle, " p. 5. 
2 Phil. iii. 4-11. 



-fiT.38.] THE WORK AND THE MAN. 93 

his ambition no longer satisfied with a corrupti- 
ble crown, but reaching out after an incor- 
ruptible crown, "the prize of the high calling 
of God in Christ Jesus." 1 

It has often been that a strong and brilliant 
character has shone out through a weak and 
suffering body. Saul says of himself that his 
bodily presence was weak and his speech con- 
temptible. 2 How hard, then, for him to under- 
take those journeys by sea and land, and to 
thrust himself forward into every crowded syn- 
agogue a nd into the presence of governors and 
philosophers, with his message of the truth. 
He knew that he was only "a small and ugly 
Jew," w physically infirm, constitutionally nerv- 
ous, painfully sensitive." 3 He remembered this 
often and spoke of it ; but his zeal for Christ 
made him self-forgetful at other times, or made 
him boast of his infirmities ; because they formed 
a background against which might be seen more 
clearly the manifold grace of God. He was 
willing to be an earthen vessel of the common- 
est clay, if only he might be filled with the 
riches of Christ. There was no vanity, there- 
fore, in Saul. 4 He spoke and wrote freely of him- 
self, but only to magnify the grace and mercy of 

i Phil. iii. 14. 2 2 Cor. x. 10. 3 Farraf : " St. Paul," i. 341. 

4 "Throughout his Epistles there is not one word that savors 
of vanity, nor is any action recorded of him in which the least 
mark of it appears." — G.L. Lyttelton : " Observations," p. 47- 



94 LIFE OF PAUL. [A.D. 44. 

God. 1 We must set down humility, then, as 
one of his Christian characteristics. But hu- 
mility may degenerate into weakness if it is 
not accompanied with perseverance and courage. 
These two Saul had. Christ called him to be 
an apostle. He could wait for the divine inti- 
mation that the hour had come for him to pro- 
ceed ; but from that hour to the end of life, 
nothing but chains or imprisonment could deter 
him from carrying forward the work committed 
to him. Add now to these qualities that sym- 
pathy which drew him out toward every soul 
that was in any distress or darkness ; 2 that ten- 
derness which, though sometimes he was car- 
ried away by the torrent of his zeal, made him 
always mindful of the feelings and pains of 
others ; that warmth of heart and affectionateness 
which made him long for the companionship of 
his brethren, and drew from him those expres- 
sions of love which, like goodly pearls, deck 
the logic of his Epistles ; 3 that abounding grati- 

i Howson : " Character of St. Paul," p. 107. 

2 " One in whose character commanding ability, simple and 
unswerving purpose, unflagging energy, unselfish enthusiasm, and 
warm and wide and sunny sympathy were combined in a degree 
unrivalled in the history of our race." — Knox Little: "Man- 
chester Sermons," p. 259. 

3 " By a rare privilege of nature (shall I term it ?) or of grace, 
Saint Paul, combining opposite qualities in himself, and tempering 
force by gentleness, possessed one of the tenderest hearts that ever 
beat beneath the sky. I do not say merely a warm heart, but a 
feeling heart, with tender attachments, lively emotions, and quick 



JBT.3B.] THE WORK AND THE MAN. 95 

tude to God for the grand life he was living, 
and for the hope of immortality which he pos- 
sessed, and we have at least an outline of the 
character which, under the direction of the Lord 
Jesus, made Saul of all men "the greatest bene- 
factor of our kind." * 

Such, then, was the man who was waiting and 
working at Tarsus ten years after the cruci- 
fixion of Christ. When, therefore, Barnabas, 
having made inquiry as to Saul's whereabouts, 
hurried away either to the place where he was 
preaching, or to the shop where possibly he 
was busy making and mending tents out of the 
bristling goats" hair, and, having come in where 
the great man was patiently performing the task 
that Divine Wisdom had assigned him, looked 
into his face, and told him of the crowds in 
Antioch who were eager to hear the Gospel, 
Saul recognized the well-known voice of his 
friend and brother, and was more than glad to 
see him. At the same time he welcomed the 
call to a larger field of activity, and the pros- 
pect of speedier and more abundant results. 
By ship from the mouth of the Cydnus to Se- 
leucia, or by foot or on horseback across the 
plain of Cilicia and through the Syrian Gates, 

to weep; — so far was his greatness from having any element of 
pride, or his energy any element of harshness," — Adolfhe 
Monod : " Saint Paul," p. 00. 
1 Monod, Ibid. p. 14. 



96 LIFE OF PAUL. [A.D. 44. 

they made all hagte to that great and wicked 
city where the power of Christ had been mani- 
fested in the conversion of many to holy and 
happy lives. This is the second time that Bar- 
nabas has taken Saul by the hand and led him 
up to a higher and better work. Into the life 
of festering immorality, fashion, gayety, and 
irreligion, where every avenue was lined with 
the plague-smitten children of vice, passed the 
calm, earnest spirit of the Greatest Apostle, with 
quick-seeing eye, with ready hand, with ear- 
nest life, and a heart beating high with deter- 
mination to bring some of these people upon 
their knees into the presence of the Great Physi- 
cian and Saviour of men. 

There were already three other preachers at 
Antioch : Lucius, Manahem, and Simeon Niger, 
about whom we know almost nothing except 
their names, and that Lucius was a Jew from 
Cyrene ; Manahem, probably a Jew, who had 
been brought up in the household of King 
Herod ; and that these three were the recognized 
leaders of the young church. They were quite 
ready, however, to welcome Saul and Barnabas 
as helpers, and, indeed, to place in their hands, 
as long as they remained with them, the man- 
agement of the affairs of their community. 

We can readily imagine how insignificant 
Lucius, Manahem, and Simeon Niger must have 



JET.38.] THE WORK AND THE MAN. 97 

felt themselves to be in the presence of two 
such towering characters as Barnabas and Saul. 
What graciousness of speech, what courtesy of 
manner in Barnabas ! What keen, cogent 
argument, what torrent-like, earnest appeal in 
Saul ! Saul was greatest there, even as his 
subsequent career reveals. 

A year or more was passed in Antioch, the 
record of which, with the exception of two inci- 
dents, is given in a single word, ?f they assembled 
themselves with the church and taught much 
people." These two incidents, though, are 
vital. 

It was* here in Antioch about this date, 
while the activity of the disciples of Christ was 
stimulated by the presence of Barnabas and 
Saul, that they received for the first time that 
name which has ever since stood for all that is 
greatest and best. Up to this point they had 
called themselves " disciples," ff believers," 
"brethren," "saints," "holy ones of the way," 
that is, the way of eternal life. The unbeliev- 
ing Jews had flung after them in derision the de- 
spised title, "Nazarene." But they had not yet 
received their new name, which was forever to 
distinguish the followers of Christ as His peculiar 
people. It is remarkable too that this name, the 
only one that could properly characterize the 
followers of Christ, — the one that by its very 



&8 LIFE OF PAI7L. [A.D. 44. 

derivation is the name which every believer 
agrees he ought to be known by, — should 
have been chosen by the sneering voluptuaries 
of Antioch to describe those who w 7 ere 
always talking about the Christ. Pompey 
had been in Antioch, and his followers 
were called Pompeiani. The party of Marius 
was known as Mariani. It was only natural 
that those who called Christ Master and Lord 
should be hailed Christiani. " Not in Jeru- 
salem, the city of the old Covenant, the city of 
the people who were chosen to the exclusion of 
all others, but in a heathen city, the Eastern 
centre of Greek fashion and Roman luxury, and 
not till it was shown that the New Covenant w T as 
inclusive of all others, — then and there we were 
first called Christians, and the church received 
from the world its true and honorable name." 1 
But the disciples were slow to adopt the new 
name. Only twice is it used in the New Tes- 
tament, and in both cases as applied to the 
disciples by those who were not Christians 
themselves. 2 

The other incident illustrates the spirit of 
benevolence which from the first moved the 
early Christians. Among those who from time 
to time visited Antioch from Jerusalem was a 

1 Conybeare and Howson : " St. Paul," I. 120. 

2 Acts xxvi. 28 ; 1 Pet. 4 : 16. 



-F/r. ::!'.] THE WORK AXD THE MAtf. 09 

Christian Jew, whose name was Agabus. This 
Agabus was a prophet, who by divine inspira- 
tion was able to read in advance the signs of the 
times, and he urged upon the attention of 
Barnabas and Saul and the rest the fact that a 
famine was to occur over all the world, and 
that the disciples at Jerusalem were likely to 
sutler from the hard times certain to attend 
it. This startling prediction would not fall in 
very naturally with the habits and customs of 
luxurious and extravagant people like those in 
the Syrian capital. It is all the more remark- 
able, therefore, that the hearts of these Christians 
were moved at once to make up a generous 
collection, and to send it to Jerusalem, so as to 
anticipate the distress that might otherwise 
come upon their brethren there. The church at 
Jerusalem had almost impoverished itself by its 
o-enerositv in former years. Thev had oiven 
all they possessed to promote the spread of 
the Gospel ; and the Christians at Antioch were 
now reaping blessings from the seed of that 
self-sacrifice. It was only just that — "every 
man according to his ability " — they should out 
of their abundance, (for many of them no doubt 
were wealthy), send alms to Jerusalem. This 
was a work, too, into which Saul must have 
entered with all his heart, for he was not 
merely a preacher of doctrines. TTith all his 



100 LIFE OF PAUL. 



[A.D. 45. 



eagerness to persuade the people to believe on 
Christ, he never ceased to remind them that 
they must add to their faith virtuous and honest 
and truthful lives, and that they should, even as 
Christ did, deny themselves in order to do good 
to others. Saul commenced here at Antioch 
what he continued all through his life as a mis- 
sionary, — the work of collecting money from 
those who could give it, and of redistributing it 
to those who were in need. To him alone we 
owe the preservation of those precious words of 
our Saviour, w It is more blessed to give than to 
receive" 1 

The collection was made, — possibly not all 
at once ; perhaps on the first day of every week, 
as they met to worship, something was added to 
it, — and then Barnabas and Saul were chosen 
to take it to Jerusalem. 

The two apostles reached Jerusalem at a time 
when the church there was in greater trouble 
than would be caused by scarcity of mone}^ or 
even of food. That Herod who, at the height 
of his glory, fell a prey to a loathsome disease 
and sudden death soon after at Caesarea, had 
just celebrated his unprincipled devotion to the 
religion of the Jews by beheading one of the 
most active of the Apostles, James, the older 
of the sons of Zebedee, who with his brother 

1 Acts. xx. 35. 



JEt. 39.] THE WORK AND THE MAN. 101 

John had been a follower of Christ ever since 
they were first called while fishing on the Lake 
of Galilee, seventeen years before. It was at 
the Passover; and James and Peter, who 
ordinarily may have been preaching through 
the towns of Palestine, have come to Jeru- 
salem to observe the feast, and at the same time 
to address the people as they could find oppor- 
tunity. Herod also was there to attend the 
festival. Something, perhaps, that this " Son 
of Thunder" said vexed the king. His ven- 
geance was swift and keen and terrible. Peter, 
too, the w Eockman," he would dispose of. Him 
he threw into prison, — it was an afterthought, 
— intending, as soon as the Passover was cele- 
brated, to put him to death also. But Peter 
was delivered by divine interposition. The 
tears of the church, however, did not cease to 
fall for the memory of the zealous James. 

Barnabas had an aunt, 1 Mary, living in the 
city. She was a godly woman, and one of 
the most active members of the band of 
Christian disciples. She seems to have used 
her wealth with the same generosity that her 
nephew had used his for the benefit of the 
Christian work. Her house was open at all 

i The** New Version," — Col.iv. 10; Lewin, n.272; Farrar, I. 
358, agree in calling Barnabas and Mark " cousins." Howson and 
Hackett are undecided 



102 LIFE OF PAUL. [A.D. 45. 

hours, and to her door, therefore, the steps 
of Barnabas and Saul would be most likely 
to turn on their arrival at Jerusalem. Here 
too was another young Christian, her son, 
Mark; and at this time of persecution many 
trembling followers of Christ had come to- 
gether at this house to strengthen each other 
by one another's presence, and to pray together 
for deliverance from the cruelty of the tyrant 
king. It was while they were praying — and 
it is not improbable that Saul and Barnabas were 
there with them — that Peter knocked for ad- 
mission, and after relating to them how he was 
delivered from prison, and telling them to make 
his escape known to James, the pastor of the 
church, and the rest, left the city. 

So far as we know, Saul and Barnabas, very 
soon after delivering the alms they came to 
bring, returned to Antioch and took Mark with 
them, his anxious mother no doubt very willing 
that her son should go away with his older 
cousin Barnabas, for a while at least, until the 
lives of Christian men should be safe in Jeru- 
salem. 



PART SECOND. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

THE START. 

M Men of a thousand shifts and wiles, look here ! 

See one straightforward conscience put in pawn 
To win a world ; see the obedient sphere 

By bravery's simple gravitation drawn." — 

J. R. Lowell. 

" A flash of light from Syria, illuminating almost at once the 
three great peninsulas of Asia Minor, Greece, and Italy, and soon 
followed by a second, which extended over nearly the whole Medi- 
terranean seaboard, — such was the first apparition of Christianity." 

Kenan. 

"That noble missionary river, whose streams are now fertilizing 
the world, had its little fountain-head in Antioch." — 

J. R. Macduff. 

QOME time after Barnabas and Saul had re- 
^ turned to Antioch, at a special service 1 of 
prayer and fasting, the Holy Spirit brought to 
the minds of the Christians present the convic- 
tion that these two men ought to go away to 
preach the Gospel to the Gentiles. The mother- 
church at Jerusalem had been the means of 
spreading the Gospel in Palestine and even to 
Antioch ; but her powers early began to wane. 
It was reserved for the Syrian capital to become 

1 Farrar, I. 324. 



106 LIFE OF PAUL. [A.D. 46. 

"the starting-point of Christian missions, and 
for the first century their headquarters." 1 Ac- 
cordingly we read that, "when they had fasted 
and prayed, and laid their hands on them, they 
sent them away." 

It was not a great event to the people of An- 
tioch. 2 The Christians in the city would miss 
the two great Apostles, and at the same time 
would exult that they had gone to carry the 
" glad tidings " to other peoples ; but to the gay 
and worldly heathen the departure from their 
city of two men who had been spending a year 
or two there, advocating the claims of a crucified 
Jew, would be an entirely insignificant matter. 
Mark went with his cousin Barnabas ; and we 
can easily imagine them taking leave of Lucius, 
Menahem, Niger, and the rest, starting out, 
probably on foot, crossing the bridge which 
spanned the Orontes, and following the regular 
highway over the hills, twelve or fifteen miles 
down to Seleucia by the sea, where they were to 
embark for Cyprus. 

What are these men undertaking ? Do they 
know how desperately wicked the cities and 
towns are, and how the people everywhere are 
worshipping gods of wood and stone and brass 

i Renan : " Apostles," 43. 

2 "They left Antioch with no flourish of trumpets ; but with the 
calm earnestness of thoughtful men." — W. M. Taylor: "Paul 
the Missionary," p. 90. 



Mt.49.] the start. 107 

and gold? Yes; and because they know it, 
they are eager to tell the people about the true 
God and of a better way of life. 

The populations of the various parts of the 
Eoman empire in the first century were perhaps 
the most corrupt that have ever existed. Almost 
the universal drift was in the wrong direction. 
Politics was a trade, at which men served as 
brief an apprenticeship as possible, to learn 
how to snatch most of the spoils. Art was de- 
graded into sensualism, and religion was made 
a slave in chains, and compelled to perform the 
debasing services of unchastity and infanticide. 
We have seen what the moral condition was in 
Damascus and Antioch in the East, and the cities 
of the West were not perceptibly better. M The 
western regions, towards which the course of 
missions took its way, were prevalently Greek 
and Roman ; but it was a conquered Greece and 
a corrupted Rome. It was a Greece which had 
lost its genius and retained its falsity ; a Rome 
which had lost its simplicity and retained its 
coarseness. It was Greece in her lowest stage 
of seducer and parasite : it was Rome at the 
epoch of her most gorgeous gluttonies and 
her most gilded rottenness." 1 It is not im- 
probable that there were exceptions to the 
general degradation of morals. Indeed, his- 

i Farrar. i. 331. 



108 LIFE OF PAUL. [A.D. 46. 

tory is not wholly barren of the names of 
both men and women who were high-minded 
and pure, so that while the majorities every- 
where "had sounded the lowest depths of in- 
famy," l there were some rare souls in whom 
"good nature, conjugal fidelity, probity, and 
the domestic virtues " x might be found ; but 
there were not many such. The people who 
retained most of morality and sobriety in the 
general looseness were undoubtedly the Jews, 
who were scattered in every city and town of 
the empire. 

The Jew had his faults. He was bigoted, ex- 
clusive, niggardly, ignorant, possibly supersti- 
tious ; at the same time he was but very rarely 
a murderer, an adulterer or a glutton. He was 
proud of his rigid adherence to the Mosaic law, 
and of his faith in an absolutely holy God, whom 
he could not see. w It was his object to keep 
himself pure, so far as he possibly could, from 
all ceremonial, as well as from all moral cor- 
ruption." 2 Jewish colonists were looked upon 
with aversion. Greeks, Eomans, and Syrians 
alike, hated the very sight of them. Still 
they maintained their separate, independent 
existence and worship, uttering thereby their 
eternal protest against the unchaste misce- 

1 Renan: "Apostles," 160. 

2 Rawlinson : " Paul in Damascus," p. 52. 



JET. 40.] THE START. 109 

genation, and the sensuous religious rites of 
paganism. 

We mus not forget that Barnabas and Saul 
are Jews, "two poor Jews," 1 *'of obscure 
name, of no position, without rank, without in- 
fluence." Naturally they would have felt just as 
other Jews felt toward Gentiles. They would 
neither have mingled with them nor have cared 
for their conversion. But these apostles were 
no longer the members of a mere Jewish sect, 
bigoted and exclusive, but the disciples of 
the Son of Man, whose mission was to save all 
men ; and in both mind and heart they had em- 
braced the idfca of the brotherhood of humanity. 
They went out, therefore, to preach the Gospel 
to men, not to Jews alone. It may be true as 
Eenan suggests that, " the Christian preaching 
seems to have followed a road already laid out, 
and which is no other than that of the Jewish 
emigration," 2 but it would have been equally 
true if the Apostles had gone into Syria, Ara- 
bia, and Egypt, instead of into Asia Minor, 
Greece, and Italy ; for there were Jewish com- 
munities wherever there were people of other 
nationalities ; and the result proves that Saul 
and Barnabas found it more difficult to persuade 
their own brethren to believe in Christ than 
they did to persuade Gentiles. 

1 Farrar, I. 337 ; Ibid., 333. 2 « Apostles," 240. 



110 LIFE OF PAUL. [AD. 46. 

For these apostles were Jews, but perverts ; 
Jews, but schismatics, who preached that the 
great Rabbis and the High Priest at Jerusalem 
had profaned the Holy City by putting to death 
the Messiah. This would render them odious to 
the very orthodox Jews. But, on the other hand, 
the fact that they were Jews would only make 
it more difficult for them to address Gentiles, 
and that, all the more, because they were travel- 
ling as religious teachers. It is well known 
that the women of those times, as of any cor- 
rupt age, were the greatest sufferers ; and that 
quite frequently one of these, whose life had be- 
come burdensome under the defilements of 
paganism, would take refuge in the arms of the 
comparatively pure, at least virtuous, Judaism. 1 
This " was an open condemnation of the men, 
who adhered to the old religion as shameless 
profligates," 2 and would naturally aggravate their 
hatred, especially against Jews like the apostles, 
whose declared purpose it was to draw whom- 
ever they could out of "that vast weltering 
mass of idolatry and corruption," 3 to believe in 
the Christ whom they preached. 

As we shall see, however, there is one fact 
that secured to Barnabas and Saul, and after- 

1 Rawlinson: "St, Paul in Damascus," 71; Conybeare and 
Howson, i. 194. - 

2 Rawlinson : " St. Paul in Damascus," 72. 3 Farrar, I, 329. 



Mr. 40.] THE START. Ill 

ward to Saul alone, or with Luke and Silas, 
an opportunity to reach the people with the 
Gospel everywhere in the Roman empire. That 
empire, in granting liberty of thought and 
speech, had done what the old kingdoms had 
never permitted. Scientific, philosophic, and 
religious opinions were held and taught with 
entire freedom, so far as the Roman law was 
concerned. 1 So the Apostles, although fre- 
quently set upon by Jews, always felt sure of 
the protection of the Roman officials, at least so 
far as those officials were uncorrupted by bribery 
or popularity. It was only years afterward, 
when Christianity came into conflict with prac- 
tical politics, that Christians were persecuted, 
not for their faith, but for the political attitude 
which they were obliged to assume. 

If now we take all this into consideration, — 
how much wickedness there was, how few per- 
sons there were who were dissatisfied with 
their condition, how difficult it was to °'ain 
access to that few, and if we remember the 
hardships of travelling in those days, and the 
dangers by sea and by land, —is it not remark- 
able that these two Jews should start out ff on 
foot, staff in hand, to convert the world to 
Christ?" 2 They must have been brave men; 
but more, they were divinely commissioned. 

1 Renan: "Apostles," 259. * Farrar, 1. 337. 



112 LIFE OF PAUL. [A.D.46. 

Saul had been waiting (with what holy impa- 
tience ! ) these four years for the fulfilment of 
that promise made to him in Jerusalem, "I will 
send thee far hence unto the Gentiles." 1 He 
knew the difficulties ; but they did not terrify 
him. All the more need why the Gospel 
should be preached. He was like the racer 
who sees the crown at the goal, yet is kept 
chafing behind the barrier. But now the word 
has been spoken, and with an eager bound he 
enters the course, from this time to keep " reach- 
ing forth unto those things which are before," 
until he receives the incorruptible crown. 2 

Seleucia, to which they came, was one of the 
best and busiest ports of the Mediterranean. 
It was five miles north of the mouth of the 
Orontes, close to the shore, clustering around 
the base, and climbing up the slopes of Mount 
Coryphaeus, the steep heights of which over- 
hung the city. The harbor was entirely arti- 
ficial, and consisted of an inner "basin," cover- 
ing about fifty acres, and an outer one of less 
extent, protected by two magnificent piers, ex- 
tending into the sea, and at the outer extremity 
meeting and overlapping each other, but so as 
to allow vessels to enter. It is a curious fact 
that one of these piers — the ruins only remain 

i Acts xxii. 21. 2 Phil. iii. 13. 



JEt. 40.] THE START. 113 

— is called by the name of Saul, while the other 
bears the name of Barnabas. 1 

Inside the harbor, sheltered from the inces- 
sant surge of the sea, rode "many gallant 
vessels from all parts of the Mediterranean," 2 
while on the wharves, lined with storehouses, 
might have been heard K the din of commerce " 
in a Babel of tongues ; for Seleucia, as already 
observed, was one of the principal seaports of 
the Mediterranean, located on the direct line of 
communication from the East to the West, — a 
line which commerce in our own day has pro- 
posed to re-open by rail through the valleys of 
the Orontes and the Euphrates. 

The missionaries did not delay here longer 
than was necessary to find among the outward- 
bound vessels one that was going to Cyprus, 
for they had decided to make that island their 
immediate destination. We do not read of 
their preaching at Seleucia at all. Therefore, 
we may be sure, that their stay was brief. But 
now the two brave men stand upon the deck, 
the moorings are cast off, the prow turns away 
to the southwest, "the apostolic barque has 
spread her sails ; the wind breathes low, and 
only aspires to bear upon its wings the words 
of Jesus;" 3 the treacherous sea is kind, and 

1 Malleson : " St. Paul," 130. 

2 Macduff: " Footsteps of St. Paul," 106. 3 Farrar, i. 338. 



114 LIFE OF PAUL. [A.D. 46, 

bears them swiftly away from the shores of 
Syria. The mountains astern sink gradually to 
the horizon, while in the distance the hills of 
Cyprus rise above the cloud-banks to extend 
their welcome to these godly men who come, 
not to erect new altars upon them, but to plant 
here the Christian standard, and unfurl the 
banner of the King of Peace. The vessel speeds 
on past Cape Andreas, the northeastern extrem- 
ity of the island, — a quick run of a few hours 
between dawn and sunset from Seleucia, 1 — and 
soon its keel touches the sandy shore in front of 
Salamis, and "the second idyl of Christianity" 
is commenced. 

1 The distance from Seleucia to Salamis is about one hundred 
miles. 

2 " The Lake of Tiberias and its fishing-banks had furnished the 
first. Now a more powerful breeze, aspirations towards more dis- 
tant lands, draw us into the open sea." — Kenan : " St. Paul," 
p. 36. 



CHAPTER IX. 

CYPRUS. 

" Know ye the land where the cypress and myrtle 
Are emblems of deeds that are done in their clime ; 
Where the rage of the vulture, the love of the turtle, 
Now melt into sorrow, now madden to crime." — Byron. 

''During the generation which elapsed from the year 35 to the 
year 65, the Roman empire was sown with a seed of eternal life, 
which comprehends the germ of a total revolution, not only moral, 
but domestic, civil, political, and even material." — Adolphe 

MONOD. 

"For first must die in him the man called Saul, 
That grace supreme might live and reign in Paul." 

TT must have been with peculiar interest that 
J- Barnabas and Mark greeted the first distinct 
view of Cyprus ; for it was the native place of 
the former, 1 and probably they both had rela- 
tives still living there. Indeed, this may have 
been the reason why Cyprus was selected as the 
first place to which the missionaries should go ; 
although it is probable that the facts, that it was 
one of the nearest points accessible, that there 
were already a few Christians there and many 
Jews, and that vessels were likely to have been 
passing frequently between the island and Se- 

i Acts v. 36. 

115 



116 LIFE OF PAUL. [A.D. 46. 

leucia, afford sufficient reason for the first apos- 
tolic journey taking this direction. 

Within a few years the world has taken a 
new interest in the Island of Cyprus. In 1878, 
through the shrewd diplomacy of Lord Bea- 
consfield, it became a dependency of the British 
crown, and it is to be presumed that its future 
fortunes will be an improvement upon the uni- 
versal neglect and desolation consequent upon 
three centuries of Turkish misrule. And, even 
before England had become the owner of . 
Cyprus, popular attention had been called to it, 
by the excavations and discoveries of General 
di Cesnola, American consul, whose collection 
of Cyprian antiquities, now fortunately 1 depos- 
ited in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New 
York, consisting of a vast quantity of Assyrian, 
Phoenician, Cypriote, and Greek inscriptions, 
coins, vases, statues, bas-reliefs, sarcophagi, 
engraved gems, amulets, terra-cotta lamps, and 
a great variety of ornaments in gold, silver, 
copper, bronze, alabaster, and rock-crystal, 2 
reveals the history of ages of ancient prosperity 
and civilization. 

The general features of the island were the 
same when Saul and Barnabas landed on the 
pier at Salamis as they are to-day. The coast- 

i A writer in the Encyclopaedia Britannica, " Cyprus," says " un- 
fortunately." 2 Cesnola's " Cyprus," p. 453. 



-ffiT.40.] CYPRUS. 117 

line was the same, as were also the mountain 
ranges, the valleys, and the rivers. But the 
mountain sides, and all the central portion of 
the island were, in those days, covered with 
dense forests, while the lowlands between the 
mountains and the sea teemed with luxuriant 
vegetation. There were rich copper and silver 
mines here, which, it is quite probable, have not 
yet been exhausted. The forests for many 
years supplied the Greeks with timber for 
ship-building, — much of which, it is only fair 
to presume, may have been carried on upon 
the banks of the Pedaeus at Salamis. There 
was, in Saul's day, only one other city on 
Cyprus besides Salamis, namely, Paphos, at 
the western end, although there were a number 
of small towns and villages. 1 The inhabitants 
of the island were, in the main, Greeks. These 
constituted the permanent population. A con- 
siderable number of Jews, 2 however, resided here 
with more or less permanency, but without be- 
coming a constituent part of the body politic. 

Venus, "Aphrodite Anadyomene," had for 
many generations been the embodiment of all 
that was divine to the Cyprians. Hither, as, 

" From the sea 
She rose and floated in her pearly shell, 
A laughing girl," 3 

1 Lewin; i. 120. 2 Acts xiii. 5. 

8 Horner, quoted by Farrar, I. 349. 



118 LITE OF PAUL. [A.D. 46. 

she came ; and here, in one of the groves of the 
Cyprian Olympus, was "the most famous of 
her temples," — the chief M of all the luxurious 
bowers devoted to her worship," 1 This was at 
Paphos, and accordingly in this city the annual 
festival and procession in her honor was cele- 
brated. But the worship of Venus did not 
promote virtue. The moral atmosphere of 
Cyprus was little better than that of Antioch, 
whose religious rites were presided over by the 
voluptuous Daphne. 2 

Our three missionaries, leaving the vessel at the 
dock, entered the streets of Salamis. Barna- 
bas knew the way, and soon found acquaint- 
ances, to whom he introduced Saul and his 
cousin Mark. On the Sabbath they went to 
worship ; and all that we know of their stay or 
doings in the city is summed up in one sen- 
tence, "They preached the word of God in the 
synagogues of the Jews." 3 From this, however, 
we discover that there were Jews enough in 
Salamis to require more than one synagogue, 
and also, inferentially, that at this beginning of 
their work, the apostles limited their preaching 
to the Jews. They may have remained there 

i Lewin, i. 120. 

2 " The pictures which they [i. e. Herodotus and later historians] 
draw of the grand festival to the goddess at Paphos leave little for 
the imagination of man to invent, one would think, in the way of 
gross indulgence." — Cesnola's " Cyprus," p. 8. 

8 Acts xiii. 5. 



.fflT.40.) CYPEUS. 119 

days, weeks, or months. It is stated, in this 
connection, that they had John (Mark) as 
their minister ; and this has been understood to 
imply that there may have been many converts, 
to baptize whom was the duty of Mark. 1 

When they left Salamis, they would naturally 
turn their faces toward the southwest, and, pass- 
ing through "a widespread plain, with corn- 
fields and orchards," 2 would stop at the first town 
or village to which they came to preach the 
good news of the Gospel. In this way, pass- 
ing from town to town, " they went throughout 
the ichole of the island," 3 until they finally 
reached the capital, Paphos, which by the 
direct road was not more than a hundred 
miles from Salamis. 

The Eoman governor of Cyprus, Sergius 
Paulus, resided at Paphos. He was an acute and 
intelligent official, who, in addition to attending 
to the affairs of his province, was accustomed 
to break up the monotony of this insular resi- 
dence by investigating the claims of philoso^ 
phy and religion ; 4 though, up to the time of our 

i Farrar, i. 345 ; Lewin, I. 127 ; Conybeare and Howson, I. 141 ; 
Hackett : Com. on Acts, xiii. 5. 

2 Conybeare and Howson, I. 140. 

3 Lewin, I. 127. 

4 They found the proconsul, Sergius Paulus, a man dissatisfied 
with all that philosophy and the popular religion could offer for his 
religious wants, and anxious to receive everything which pre- 
sented itself as a new communication from Heaven." — Neaxder, 
" Planting and Training," p. 112. 



120 LIFE OF PAUL. [A.D.46. 

history, with little satisfaction. This " prudent" 
Roman kept in his service a Jew, — one of those 
" wise men," who at that time were looked 
upon as possessing more than human wisdom — 
whom, no doubt, he consulted not only for 
amusement, but in order that his choices and 
decisions might be more thoroughly in harmony 
with the purposes of the gods. This "wise 
man " was one of a large class of religious im- 
postors, who made a trade of revealing, as they 
pretended, things which common mortals could 
not otherwise find out. Their methods were as 
various as their names, — "augurs, haruspices, 
Babylonians, mathematici, astrologers, magi- 
ans, soothsayers, casters of horoscopes, fortune- 
tellers, ventriloquists, dream-interpreters," 1 and 
they were employed and consulted on all occa- 
sions in which issues of sufficient importance 
were involved; and by all classes, from the 
maid who dropped a farthing into the "wise 
man's " palm to have her fortune told, to the 
Emperor surrounded by his " herd of Chal- 
deans," listening to some "divine revelation" in 
regard to matters of imperial policy. So that 
we are not to condemn Sergius Paulus without 
reserve because he kept hanging about him this 
man Bar- Jesus. In later times, every one who 
could afford the expense, kept a court-fool. At 

i Farrar, I. 351. 



2ET.40.] ' CYPRUS. 121 

that time, rich and influential heathen retained a 
" court wise man." At any rate, this governor of 
Cyprus was evidently not a slave of that fanatic 
faith which, 

" Once wedded fast 
To some dear falsehood, hugs it to the last." * 

No sooner had he heard of Barnabas and 
Saul preaching in the synagogues and possibly 
in the streets 2 of his capital than, hoping that 
these men might have some new truth to tell 
him in addition to the miserably insignificant 
tale which he had drawn out of Bar- Jesus, he 
sent a messenger, bidding them come to his resi- 
dence, and then invited them to speak to him 
w the word of God." This they did, and suc- 
cessfully. Bar-Jesus, however, or Elymas, as 
he called himself, thinking, just as many another 
man has, that a more honorable name would add 
to his dignity, had no intention of permitting 
Barnabas and Saul to be preferred to himself in 
the good graces of the governor. He was the 
private religious adviser of Sergius Paulus, had 
been engaged for the year probably, and he was 
eager, with an impostor's headlong zeal, to retain 
the position he had gained. With all the arts 
of his trade and force of bitter denunciation he 
tried to silence the apostles, and to persuade the 

1 Thos. Moore : " Lalla Rookh." 

2 Macduff: " Footsteps of St. Paul," p. 108. 



122 LITE OF PAUL. [A.D. 46. 

governor that this new religion was false, and 
that the way of truth lay with him and his sor- 
ceries. But Saul — not Barnabas — here Saul, 
for the first time, stands out alone as the cham- 
pion of the faith. And it is just at this point 
that Luke drops the name, Saul, and henceforth 
calls the great Apostle by his new name, Paul. 1 
Paul, full of the wisdom and power of God, 
turned upon him his searching glance, and with 
the well-aimed rebuke of his indignation crushed 
the worthless, wicked coward. Such tremen- 
dous words, spoken face to face, have rarely been 
uttered : " O full of all guile and all villany, 
thou son of the devil, thou enemy of all right- 
eousness, wilt thou not cease to pervert the right 
ways of the Lord? And now, behold ! the hand 
of the Lord is upon thee, and thou shalt be 
blind, not seeing the sun for a season." The 
lips of Bar- Jesus are trembling with rage. 
He will fling back this insult to his dignity as 
the Magian of the court of Sergius Paulus. But, 
alas ! true to Paul's words, a misty veil floats 
before his eyes : Paul, Barnabas, the governor, 
the hangings of the walls, all fade away from 
his vision ; the darkness which only the blind 
know thickens about him, and he cries for some 
one to take him by the hand and lead him away. 
We see this wretched man no more ; but we 
may feel sure that Paul thought of him with 

. * l See note on the change of name on page 126. 



-fflT.40.] CYPRUS. 125 

compassion, and regretted his stubborn opposi- 
tion to the truth, which made this severe infliction 
necessary. He was to be blind only " for a 
season." Let us hope that the judgments of 
God led him to repentance. 

The miracle, however, produced an immediate 
effect upon the mind of Sergius Paulus. He 
saw the minister of his gods instantaneously 
struck blind at a word from the Apostle of 
Christ ; and the proof was sufficient. He 
believed. Nor do we hear of him again. Ces- 
nola discovered at Soli a marble slab on which 
this man's name appears. 1 AVe have reason to 
hope that it is also in the K Book of Life." 

The work in Cyprus in all probability had 
been attended with encouraging success ; but 
it was never Paul's intention to remain very 
long in any one place. It was his large pur- 
pose to visit every accessible point in the world 
with his message of truth. So, very soon, his 
urgent spirit is looking with impatience across 
the water to the shores of Asia Minor. The 
three men are again stepping from the dock ; 
the cordage rattles ; the southern breeze fills the 
sails ; the apostles wave farewell to their new- 
made friends at Paphos ; and, after a few hours' 
sail, are at anchor in the Cestrus, before Perga, 
the capital of Pamphylia. 

i " Cyprus," p. 229. 



126 LIFE OF PAUL. [A.D. 46. 

Note. — Up to this point I have used the name Saul. 
Hereafter I shall speak of the Apostle to the Gentiles 
by his well-known name, Paul. I make this change in 
the name simply for the sake of conformity to the his- 
torian of the Acts of the Apostles, who uses "Saul" up 
to this circumstance at Paphos, and "Paul" invariably 
after it. As to the actual change of name by which he 
was called, it probably did not occur as suddenly as the 
narrative in the Acts seems to imply. It is not remark- 
able, however, that he should have two names. He may 
have borne both from childhood, — Saul Paul. Why not? 
His early associations as a Jew would naturally fix upon 
him that name of the two which was more peculiarly Jew- 
ish, so he was called Saul in Tarsus and in Jerusalem. 
But now he has ceased to be merely a Jew. He sails from 
Paphos fully committed to the life of a cosmopolitan ; and 
the cosmopolitan, or, what was the same in that age, the 
Roman name, comes into use. Farrar quotes a sentence 
from Augustine ' which shows how the change of name 
indicates the change in all the conditions of the Apostle's 
life; and Howson, in a striking passage, emphasizes the 
reasons why the use of the new name was commenced at 
this particular point. 2 

i " < Paul suffers what Saul had inflicted ; Saul stoned, and Paul 
was stoned ; Saul inflicted scourgings on Christians, and Paul five 
times received forty stripes save one ; Saul hunted the Church of 
God, Paul was let down in a basket ; Saul bound, Paul was bound ' " 
— "St. Paul," i. 356. 

2 " < The heathen name rises to the surface at the moment when 
St. Paul visibly enters on his office as the Apostle of the Heathen. 
The Roman name is stereotyped at the moment when he converts 
the Roman governor. And the place where this occurs is Paphos, 
the favorite sanctuary of a shameful idolatry. At the veiy spot 
which was notorious throughout the world for that which the Gos- 
pel forbids and destroys, — there, before he sailed for Perga, hav- 
ing achieved his victory, the Apostle erected his trophy, as Moses, 
when Amalek was discomfited, ' built an altar, and called the name 
of it Jehovah-Nissi, — the Lord my Banner.' " — " St. Paul," 1. 153. 



CHAPTER X. 

ANTIOCH IN PISIDIA. 

" These lingered not for song of bird, nor stayed 
To mark what hues the glittering insect glossed, 
That dipt across their path from sun to shade." 

Dora Greenwell. 

" In journeyings often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, 
in perils by mine own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in 
perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness." — 2 Cor. xi. 26. 

rpHE Cestrus was the highway by which 
-*- Paul the missionary made his triumphal 
entrance into the borders of the heathenism 
of Asia Minor. The ancient city, Perga, of 
which there is nothing to be seen now but 
a few prostrate and indistinct ruins, scattered 
about in a pasture that lies in a valley and on 
two opposite hillsides on the eastern bank of the 
river, was, at the time when Paul and Barnabas 
were there, the focus of the enterprise and fashion 
of Pamphylia. Later, Attalia was built directly 
on the coast with a good harbor ; the Cestrus 
became innavigable, and Perga was gradually 
deserted for its more prosperous rival. 

The country of Asia Minor, which we are 
now entering with the apostles, demands at 

127 



128 LIFE OF PAUL. [A.D. 46. 

least a few sentences of description. It was 
an exceedingly rough country, broken in all 
directions by mountain-chains, torn by torrents, 
bristling with dense forests, infested by wild 
beasts, and occupied in many portions by a 
thoroughly barbarous population. The coasts 
were lined with cities and civilization ; and 
at certain points, such as Antioch in Pisidia, 
Ancyra in Galatia, Lystra, and Philadelphia, 
was felt the influence of that life which w 7 as 
touched by the thousand lines of communication 
that crossed and recrossed the Mediterranean. 
The country was divided into seven provinces. 
Pamphylia, into which we have entered, and 
which is but a small strip of valley, lay 
between the Taurus and the sea. On the 
east of this was Oilicia. These two provinces 
covered all the southern coast of Asia Minor, 
with the exception of the extreme western end. 
North of Cilicia stretched away, over forest and 
mountain to the Euxine, the two provinces of 
Cappadocia and Pontics. North of Pamphylia 
lay Galatia and Bithynia. The western 
portion, from the Mediterranean to the Bos- 
phorus, and looking out upon the islands of 
the .ZEgean, was known in Paul's day as Asia. 
But while the provinces were located in the 
positions above indicated, it must not be 
supposed that the divisions were exact or the 



JEt. 40.] ANTIOCH IN PISIDIA. 1'29 

lines of separation very distinct. It was not 
always easy to tell where one province stopped 
or another commenced. These provinces were, 
moreover, an arbitrary division, made under the 
empire. Meantime many of the old names of 
tribes and of tribal territories were retained, so 
that we have such names as Phrygia, Lycaonia, 
and Lydia to describe parts of Asia Minor. 
All of these designations are used in the Acts 
of the Apostles. The population of Asia 
Minor " was broken up into numerous com- 
munities, varying in manners, language, and 
religion, and ruled partly by Eoman prefects 
and partly by petty kings and potentates, the 
feudatories of Rome." l Seventeen nations, 
many of them speaking different languages or 
dialects, were scattered over this small country. 
In the west, or Asia Proper, Greek was almost 
exclusively spoken, and so far as persons of 
cultivation were to be met with anywhere 
they could use this language ; but the people 
at large spoke in the dialects to which they 
were born. The religion of these provinces 
was the prevalent idolatry, every considerable 
city or district selecting its own special deity, 
to whom a temple was erected, a statue 
dedicated, festivals and processions celebrated, 
and in whose temple such rites were observed 

1 Lewin, i. 131. 



130 LIFE OF PAUL. [A.D. 46. 

as made the conscience easy, while they excused 
crime, and provided for the gratification of 
passion. 

Now for three men unprotected to push into 
the interior of such a country as this, with the 
announced purpose of setting the stone rolling 
which should break down these false religions, 
required no little self-denial and boldness. Ac- 
cordingly we are not very much surprised to 
read that at this point, while the apostles are at 
Perga, making such arrangements as may have 
been necessary for their journey into the moun- 
tains, John Mark's determination to be a mis- 
sionary failed, and he " departed from them 
and returned to Jerusalem." l He lacked the 
vigorous determination of a Paul. The dark 
mountains of Galatia were not very inviting, and 
his zeal for preaching the Gospel was not strong 
enough to carry him through them. He had no 
taste for martyrdom. " Either he did not like 
the work, or he wanted to go and see his 
mother." 2 This one "disheartening incident" 3 
was all that occurred at Per^a. Paul and Bar- 
nabas immediately turn their faces toward the 
mountains, having selected Antioch in Pisidia 
as their destination. 

1 Acts xiii. 13. 

2 Matthew Henry : " Commentary on Acts," xiii. 13. 
s Farrar, I. 358. 



JET. 40.] ANTIOCH IN PISIDIA. 131 

It has been assumed that this journey was 
made in the month of May, 1 

"The flowery May, who, from her green lap, throws 
The yellow cowslip and the pale primrose," 2 

and that the apostles hurried away from Perga 
because they found that the annual summer 
exodus from the hot, low plain, to the cool 
heights of the mountains was in progress, that 
the absence of so many people would interfere 
with their work there, while the season would 
be most propitious to visit the higher districts. 
It would be safer, too, for them to travel with 
those who were going up to their summer resi- 
dences ; for these mountain-paths were infested 
with robbers and brigands, who were the terror 
of travellers. We imagine, then, Paul and Bar- 
nabas making the journey on foot. Starting out 
in the early morning, before the intense heat 
comes rolling through the valley of the Cestrus, 
they are soon climbing the zig-zag path up the 
mountain-side, while the sun pours its rays upon 
them. " As the path ascends," to quote the fine 
sentences of Dean Howson, "the rocks begin to 
assume the wilder grandeur of mountains, the 
richer fruit-trees begin to disappear, and the 
pine and walnut succeed; though the palm- 
tree still stretches its wide leaves over the 

1 Conybeare and Howson, I. 165. 

2 Milton : " Song on May Morning." 



132 LIFE OF PAUL. [A.D. 46. 

stream which dashes wildly down the ravine, 
crossing and recrossing the dangerous road. 
The alteration of climate which attends on the 
traveller's progress is soon perceptible. A few 
hours will make the difference of weeks or even 
months. When the corn is in the ear on the 
lowlands, ploughing and sowing are hardly well 
begun upon the highlands. Spring-flowers may 
be seen in the mountains by the very edge of 
the snow, when the anemone is withered in the 
plain, and the pink veins in the white asphodel 
flower are shrivelled by the heat. When the 
cottages are closed and the grass is parched, 
and everything is silent below in the purple haze 
and stillness of midsummer, clouds are seen 
drifting among the Pisidian precipices, and the 
cavern is often a welcome shelter from a cold 
and penetrating w^ind." l Up such a mountain- 
road our travellers pressed. But long before 
they reached the highest roll of this mountain- 
range, they pass the summer villas and tents in 
which the Pamphylian vacationers are enjoying 
the equable temperature of the highlands. It 
is not for these apostles of Christ, though, to 
delay here for an hour even of recreation. Five 
or six days from Perga they are crossing that 
table-land which stretches inward from the Pisi- 
dian mountains, described by travellers as teem- 

1 Connybeare and Howson, I. 166. 



Mt. 40.] 



ANTIOCH IN PISIDIA. 133 



ing with interest and beauty of great variety ; 
but ?f the steps which were ever on the golden 
streets of the New Jerusalem trod heedlessly " * 
through the most fascinating vistas of natural 
scenery, as over the most richly-stored fields of 
classic antiquity, without even a reference being- 
made to them in letter or in speech. Paul was 
too intent on reaching the people in yonder city 
to muse on the scenes by the wayside. 

The Sabbath after the arrival of Paul and 
Barnabas in Antioch finds them with their fel- 
low-countrymen in the synagogue. The Jew- 
ish synagogues, built by these devoted people 
in every town where there were enough of them 
to support one, were generally plain stone 
buildings, with very little ornamentation: The 
regular worship consisted of prayers, of which 
there were more than twenty prescribed for the 
Sabbath ritual, and reading the Law and the- 
Prophets. Singing, except as the Psalms and 
prayers may have been recited in a monotonous 
sing-song, did not form a part of the worship ; 
and if there was any speaking it was by special 
permission of the Rulers, and was in addition to 
the prescribed ritual. 2 If we could have looked 
into that synagogue at Antioch in Pisidia on 
any Sabbath, we should have seen it filled with 
men, women and children, —Jews, and Gentile 

i Farrar, I. 363. 2 Geike : " Life of Christ," I. 192. 



134 LIFE OF PAUL. [A.D. 46. 

proselytes, who had adopted the Jewish form 
of worshipping the one true God, — all devoutly 
standing, uniting in some of the prayers, re- 
sponding " Amen" to some others, listening while 
the Reader read the section of the Law or fif- 
tieth part of the five books of Moses, and giving 
attention to whoever might be invited to speak 
in exposition of the lesson that had been read. 
The people on this Sabbath are expecting to 
hear a new voice ; for it is already known that 
two brethren, one of whom at least is a Rabbi 
from the school of Gamaliel, are in the congre- 
gation. After the reading is finished, therefore, 
an invitation is given to them by the Ruler of 
the synagogue : " Brethren, if ye have any 
word of exhortation for the people, say on." 
They had something to say, — a word that 
was burning in their very hearts for utterance. 
" This pair of men never wanted words to 
speak. " x It is Paul, however, who responds to 
the invitation. The w Son of Consolation" must 
rarely have spoken in public ; but Paul possessed 
the natural poise and force, the quick mind and 
ready tongue of a public speaker. At once he 
rises and addresses the congregation : 2 — 

i Bengal : " Gnomon," Acts xiii. 15. 

2 " This discourse, the first of Paul's discourses reported at any 
length, dwells on three points : the prior history of the people, and 
its connection with the advent ; then the Messiahship of Jesus, and 
its proofs ; and lastly, the solemn application of the truth to them- 
selves. — John Eadie : " Paul the Preacher," p. 74. 



^Et. 40.] AXTIOCH EN PISIDIA. 135 

K Listen, men of Israel, and you also who 
worship our God. The God of this people, 
Israel, chose our fathers and raised them up 
to be a mighty nation, even out of bondage in 
Egypt, and with a strong arm brought them out 
of that country ; and for about forty years he 
carried them safely in his arms through the 
wilderness. And when He had destroyed seven 
nations in the land of Canaan, He gave their 
country to His people for about four hundred 
and fifty years, after which he gave them judges 
until the time of Samuel the Prophet. Then 
they desired a king, and He appointed Saul the 
son of Kish for them, a man of the tribe of Ben- 
jamin, to rule them forty years. And when He 
had removed Saul He prepared David to be 
their king, to whom also He bore testimony, 
saying : I have found David, the son of Jesse, 
a man after my own heart, who shall do all my 
will. 

" Of this man's descendants, God, according to 
His promise, has brought to Israel a Saviour, 
Jesus, after John had first preached the baptism 
of repentance to all the people of Israel. And 
as John was finishing his ministry he said : 
Whom do you think I am ? I am not He. 
But behold, there is One coming after me whose 
sandals I am not tcorthy to take off. 

"Brethren, children of Abraham, and all you 



136 LIFE OF PAUL. [A.D. 46. 

who worship our God, to us has been sent this 
word of salvation ; for those who live in Jeru- 
salem, and their rulers, because they knew Him 
not, nor understood the sayings of the prophets 
which are read in their hearing every Sabbath, 
fulfilled the prophecies by condemning Him. 
And though they did not find him guilty of 
death, still they requested Pilate to put him to 
death. And when they had fulfilled all things 
that were written concerning Him they took Hiin 
down from the tree and laid Him in a tomb. 
But God raised Him from the dead ! And He 
w r as seen for many days by those who had come 
up with Him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who 
are now his witnesses to the people. 

"And we bring to you here the glad tidings 
of the promise made unto the fathers, how that 
God has fulfilled the same unto us, their chil- 
dren, in that he raised up Jesus from the dead, 
as also it is written in the second Psalm, Thou 
art my Son, this day have I begotten thee. And 
as concerning that He raised him from the dead, 
no more to return to corruption, He has spoken 
in these words, The blessings of David will I 
give you, even the blessings which stand fast 
in holiness. Wherefore it is written also in 
another psalm, Thou wilt not suffer thine Holy 
One to see corruption. For David, after he had 
been a faithful servant of God in his own gener- 



JEi. 40.] AXTIOCH IX PISIDIA. 137 

ation, fell asleep, and was laid away with his 
lathers, and saw corruption ; but He whom God 
raised from the dead saw no corruption. 

"Know, therefore, brethren, that through this 
man Jesus is proclaimed unto you the forgive- 
ness of sins ; and by Him every one who be- 
lieves is forgiven all those transgressions from 
which you could never escape by the Law of 
Moses. Beware, therefore, beware, lest that 
come upon you which is spoken in the Prophets, 
Behold, ye desjjisers, and wonder, and perish; 
for I work a work in your days, a work which 
ye shad not believe, though a man declare it to 
you!" 

Rarely has a sermon or address fallen with 
such thrilling impression upon the listeners as 
this first recorded sermon of Paul's made upon 
Jews and Gentiles alike. At the close of the 
service they gathered around the apostles, and 
earnestly requested them to preach on the same 
subject again the next Sabbath: and some of 
them were so deeply interested that they accom- 
panied Paul and Barnabas to the place where 
they were lodging, and declared their purpose 
to be followers of Christ, and the apostles " urged 
them to continue in the grace of God." 

The following week must have been a busy 
and anxious one ; for the missionaries would want 
to follow up the impression they had made, by 



138 LIFE OF PAUL. [A.D. 46. 

personal conversation with all who were inter- 
ested in what they had said. We can easily 
imagine how rapidly the news would spread, 
that a Jew from Tarsus, a keen and eloquent 
speaker, had come to the Pisidian capital with 
an entirely new religion, and that he was likely 
to speak again on the next Sabbath. Every- 
body was anxious to get into the synagogue. 
Not a seat was empty, and still the crowd tried 
to press in at the narrow door. The Psalms 
are intoned, the prayers recited, and the Law 
and the Prophets read. But Paul is not asked to 
speak to-day. The ruler of the synagogue calls 
upon other Jews, and as they rise to speak, 
jealous and angry that such a crowd of Gentiles 
should have come to hear " this dubious stran- 
ger," * they undertake to contradict what Paul 
had said, and to ridicule and revile it. It was 
evident that further preaching in the synagogue 
would be out of the question. Paul and Bar- 
nabas, therefore, availing themselves of their 
privilege as Jews, spoke out boldly: "It was 
necessary that the word of God should first be 
spoken to you Jews ; but since you throw it 
aside, and consider yourselves unworthy of 
eternal life, lo ! we turn now to the Gentiles." 
And they quoted a passage from the Jews' own 
sacred Book to show that their decision was in 

i Farrar, i. 374. 



.Et.40.] antioch in pisidia. 139 

harmony with that, — M For so hath the Lord 
commanded us, I have set thee for a light to the 
Gentiles, that thou shouldest be for salvation 
to the ends of the earth." 1 

This pleased the Gentiles, and they praised 
the Book from which Paul had quoted, and be- 
lieved. Probably they soon gathered in some 
other place. The work w r ent on until all the 
country round was talking of the new way of 
salvation. 

But all the more were the Jews enraged. 
They would not have these Gentiles entering into 
the kingdom of God without submitting to the 
Mosaic rites. "This was always the sin of the 
Jewish people. Instead of realizing their posi- 
tion in the world as the prophetic nation for the 
good of the whole earth, they indulged the self- 
exalting opinion that God's highest blessings 
were only for themselves." 2 They resorted to 
contemptible means of preventing the work of 
Paul and Barnabas. They worked upon the 
minds of certain women who were Gentile 
proselytes, and through them upon other Gen- 
tile women who had influential husbands, but 
who had not been attracted to Paul's preaching ; 
and these, by their position, soon brought influ- 
ences into operation which compelled the apos- 
tles to abandon their work and leave Antioch. 

1 Is. xlix. 6. 2 Conybeare and Howson, I. 179. 



140 LIFE OF PAUL. [A.D. 46. 

They shook the dust of the highway off their 
feet toward the city, " as a sign that their 
enemies, and not themselves, were to blame," 1 
and started out for Iconium, leaving the newly- 
converted disciples, not in tears, but "filled 
with joy, and with the Holy Ghost." 2 

i Lewin, I. 144. 2 Acts xiii. 52. 



CHAPTER XL 

ICOXIUM, LYSTRA, AND DEKBE. 

" Once was I stoned." — 2 Cor. xi. 25. 

"Paul returned from this journey a shattered man." — F. W. 
Farrar. 

1/UJbTY years ago, an English explorer 1 dis- 
-■- covered on a mountain-slope in Pisidia a 
few mounds of broken masonry, the foundation 
of some large building, — synagogue, theatre, 
or Christian church, — and twenty-one consecu- 
tive arches stretching across the plain, — the 
supports of an ancient aqueduct. These identi- 
fied the site of Antioch. There is nothing 
else left of the city against which the apostles 
shook the dust. This Antioch was on the great 
Roman highway which crossed Asia Minor from 
east to west, connecting Antioch on the Orontes 
with Ephesus. When Paul and Barnabas came 
up here from Perga on the coast, they had in 
mind, no doubt, to inject into this great artery, 
through which so much of the life-blood of the 
empire was bounding, the quickening, thrilling 
Word of eternal life. Their work at Antioch 

1 See Arundel's " Asia Minor." 
141 



142 LIFE OF PAUL. [A.D. 46. 

for the present, at least, was ended. They 
kept, however, to this highway and set out for 
the next city toward the East. 

Iconium, about sixty miles from Antioch, " is 
pleasantly situate on the western verge of the 
largest plain of Asia Minor, and, therefore, like 
Damascus, is an oasis in the desert." x Three 
days' journey, through a mountainous, dreary, 
and uninhabited country, lay before the apos- 
tles. What conversations about the work in 
which they were engaged ; what prayers at night 
before they lay down in some cave or travel- 
lers' hut to sleep ; what weariness, what dis- 
couragements, what hopes ! At length they 
enter the gates of another city, and without de- 
lay introduce themselves and their mission to the 
people. Again we see them in the synagogue 
speaking to the Jews with much the same words 
as those spoken in Antioch, but with more clearly 
marked success. One little word in Luke's ac- 
count, 2 w so," — " so that a great multitude, both 
of the Jews and also of the Greeks, believed," — 
describes their preaching. It must have been 
in harmony with the Old Testament, for the 
Jews believed. It must have appealed to rea- 
son, for the Greeks accepted it. "Jesus" was 
the one thought which all Paul's preaching had in 
view. He never spoke to the people except to 

1 Lewin, i. 145. 2 Acts xiv. 1. 



iET.41.] IOONIUM, LYSTRA, AND DERBE. 143 

try to persuade them to believe that Jesus was 
the Messiah, the Son of God, who had come into 
the world to be the Saviour of men. But there 
were some who would not believe this ; and the 
most obstinate and bitter of these were Jews, 
who, always envious of the success of any new 
sect, were afraid that this one, unless vigorously 
opposed, would weaken, if not overthrow, their 
synagogue. Accordingly they set themselves 
to work among those Gentile proselytes who were 
interested in the preaching of the Christian mis- 
sionaries, and succeeded in alienating and em- 
bittering them. But Paul and Barnabas kept 
on preaching. The local government of Ico- 
nium was different from that of Antioch, and 
the Jews could not secure social and political 
influences here to exclude the preachers. For 
a long time they continued from Sabbath to 
Sabbath to speak fearlessly and boldly, and God 
also bore testimony to the truth of what they 
said by enabling them to perform miracles. 
This, however, did not last. The whole city was 
aroused by the preaching of the sturdy, deter- 
mined, God-fearing Christian Jew. The popu- 
lace fell apart into two factions, — some for 
the apostles, some for the Jews ; and the ex- 
citement ran so high that there was a plot to 
kill the two devout men. This their friends 
discovered, and, hurrying to them with the 



144 LIFE OF PAUL. [A.D. 47. 

information, Paul and Barnabas escaped as fugi- 
tives from this city, where, for several months, 1 
they had been giving to the people the greatest 
blessings of life. 

" When they persecute you in this city, flee 
into the next," our Lord had told the first 
apostles whom he sent out. 2 Whether or not 
Paul had ever heard these words from any of 
those intimate companions of Jesus, we do not 
know ; but the spirit of them certainly was in 
his soul. He was entirely committed to preach- 
ing the Gospel as long as his life might be 
spared. As a matter of course, therefore, He 
went with Barnabas directly on to the small 
mountain-town of Lystra. There were but few 
Jews in this place, and no sj^nagogue. The 
true God was scarcely known. The people 
worshipped Jupiter, 3 to whom they had erected 
a rude temple near the entrance-gates of their 
little town. But Paul could proclaim the glad 
tidings without a synagogue ; and we may im- 
agine that he would feel some relief in being 
away from the persecutions of the Jews. 

On one occasion as Paul was speaking, he 
noticed, sitting in the audience before him, a 
man who had been carried there by some friends, 

i Hackett, in loc. 2 Matt. x. 23. 

3 At Antioch on the Orontes Daphne was the presiding deity ; 
in Cyprus, Venus ; in Perga, Diana; in Antioch of Pisidia, the 
Moon ; in Lystra and Derbe, Jupiter. 



JEt. 41.] ICOXIUM, LYSTRA, AND DERBE. 145 

because he could not walk. He had never had 
any strength in his feet. Paul's words, what- 
ever they were, went to that lame man's heart, 
and a gleam of hope and faith came into his face 
as he heard of Jesus. Maybe Paul was relat- 
ing some of those incidents of healing in which 
Jesus himself appeared as the Great Physician, 
and this Lystrian cripple, by some sigh or ex- 
clamation of regret that he had not been where 
Jesus was, attracted the preacher's attention. 
Paul at once singled him out, and in the presence 
of that idolatrous congregation said to him, in a 
voice loud enough for all to hear, ? * Stand up- 
right on thy feet ! " Immediately he leaped to 
his feet and walked. A shout went up from 
the crowd in the hybrid patois of the district 
of Lycaonia : " The gods are come down to us 
in the likeness of men ! " rf Yes," they said one to 
the other, M that small one who speaks so easily 
and eloquently must be Mercury, the messen- 
ger of heaven ; and the larger one, with such a 
benign and mild countenance, must be Jupiter, 
the father of the gods." Among the legends of 
the early history of the Lycaonians was the 
story that many years before, Jupiter and Mer- 
cury had come from heaven to visit them. This 
legend had been handed down from father to son, 
and no doubt many of them believed it was true. 
It was not unnatural for them, therefore, when 



146 LIFE OF PAUL. [A.D. 47. 

they saw the miracle performed by the apostles, 
to think that they must be the gods come again. 
It was a great event for those credulous and 
superstitious people. There was a wild and glad 
excitement in the village. The priest at the 
temple of Jupiter hurriedly puts on his robes to 
offer sacrifice. The fattest and best oxen are 
driven in. Garlands of evergreen and flowers 
are made. All the people come together, — 
men from their work in the fields, mothers with 
babies in their arms, old people who have not 
been out for months, come tottering along, until 
the shops and market and houses are deserted ; 
for everybody must see the two gods just come 
from heaven. How discouraging such a result 
of their preaching must have been ! To see the 
people carried away by an entirely wrong im- 
pression ! Just as soon as Paul and Barnabas 
understood what the townspeople were doing, 
they rushed into the crowd and cried out that 
they were not gods, but only men like the rest 
of them, and implored them to abandon their 
worthless religion, and to worship the one true 
God. It was only with great difficulty that they 
persuaded the people not to offer sacrifices to 
them. 

But very soon "the wind blew from another 
quarter." l Some of those jealous Jews, who had 

1 Lewin, I. 150. 



Mt. 41.] ICOXIUM, LYSTRA, AND DERBE. 147 

driven the apostles out of Antioch and Iconium, 
not satisfied with doing that, took pains to come 
all the way down to Lystra, and made the Lys- 
trians believe that they had been deceived, — that 
these two men who they thought were gods, 
were impostors. The people are excited again. 
Paul, because he had taken the lead, was caught 
and stoned ; and then, when they thought he was 
dead, was dragged out of the village and thrown 
by the road-side. There were a few who be- 
lieved what Paul had been preaching. These 
disciples, among whom in all probability was 
Timothy, 1 and his mother, Eunice, and his grand- 
mother, Lois, stood weeping around the bruised 
and apparently lifeless body. K Barnabas would 
have all the sad thoughts of preparing a grave 
for his honored friend in this far-off pagan city, 
and of a return back alone to Jerusalem with 
the terrible tidings — f Paul is dead ! ' " 2 

But the work of the Great Apostle was only 
begun. He had been w cast down, but not de- 
stroyed." He had been stunned and was w T ell 
nigh dead ; but, under the tender care of loving 
hands, he rose up again, and found a refuge 
that night possibly at the house of Eunice, whose 
husband was a Greek. The next morning, 
w while the city was yet asleep," 3 though sore and 
weak, he left Lystra, and went to Derbe, twenty 

i 2 Tim. iii. 10. 2 Macduff, " Footsteps," 135. 3 Farrar, i. 38. 



148 LIFE OF PAUL. [A.D. 47. 

miles farther to the eastward. It is possible 
that the enemies of Paul at Lystra did not know 
of his recovery and escape, but that they sup- 
posed him dead. We do not read of their fol- 
lowing him to Derbe. At that town, beside the 
river and the lake, the missionaries preached the 
Word, apparently without opposition, and with 
cheering success. Among the " many disciples " 
there, was one who himself afterward became a 
missionary and companion of Paul, — " Gaius 
of Derbe." 1 

We have reached now the end of this first 
journey. It may seem a little surprising that 
from Derbe Paul did not go down to Tarsus, for 
it was not many miles away ; but when we re- 
member that his whole object was to preach the 
Gospel and establish Christian churches, and 
that he had already spent three years at this 
work in and about Tarsus, we shall not wonder 
that they returned to visit again those who had 
recently been converted in the cities through 
which they had lately come. This was a brave 
determination ; but back they went, knowing that 
it could scarcely be less than death for them to 
fall again into the hands of the Jews. Far- 
rar suggests that " precautions of secrecy they 
doubtless took, and cheerfully faced the degrad- 
ing necessity of guarded movements, and of en- 

1 Acts xx. 4. 



Mt. 41.] ICONIUM, LYSTRA, AND DERBE. 149 

tering cities, perhaps in disguise, perhaps only 
at late nightfall and early dawn." 1 There is 
no preaching in the synagogues on this return 
journey ; no miracles, no mobs, no persecution. 
Quietly they meet those already Christians, 
teach them more fully about Christ, and so es- 
tablish them in the faith, exhort them to per- 
severe, and at the same time candidly assure 
them that "all that would live godly in Christ 
Jesus shall suffer persecution." 2 As they met 
each little company of Christians in Lystra, 
Iconium, and Antioch, they ordained elders 3 to 
watch over and take care of the church, and 
then with fasting and prayer they took affection- 
ate leave of them and passed on to the next. 
In this way they passed from Derbe to Lystra, 
twenty miles; from Lystra to Iconium, forty 
miles ; from Iconium to Antioch, sixty miles, 
and from Antioch across the bleak and frigid 4 
table-land again, down through the mountain- 
gorges, the plain of Pamphylia, and the valley 
of the Cestrus to Perga, one hundred and twenty 

i " St. Paul," i. 389. 2 2 Tim. iii. 12. 

3 " The term is plural, because each church had its college of 
elders." — Hackett : " Commentary on Acts," xiv. 23. 

4 Conybeare and Howson assume (Vol. I. 200) that the apos- 
tles "went up from Perga in the spring, and returned at the close 
of the autumn, and spent all of the hotter months of the year in 
the elevated districts." It is not impossible that the work of evan- 
gelizing these cities occupied a year and a half. 



150 LIFE OF PAUL. [A.D. 47. 

miles, having travelled through a wild and dan- 
gerous wilderness, though part of the way by 
the main road, a distance of nearly five hundred 
miles. 

At Perga they find the inhabitants returned 
from their summer resorts, and avail themselves 
of the opportunity to preach to them about 
Jesus, but without any marked results. From 
there, instead of taking ship down the Oestrus, 
as they came up, they walked across to Attalia, 
sixteen miles southwest of Perga and directly 
on the coast, from which port — "for they never 
seem to have lingered among the fleeting and 
mongrel populations of these seaport towns" 1 
— they sailed to Seleucia, and were soon again 
with the Christian brethren in Antioch on the 
Orontes, telling them "all that God had done 
with them," — how they had preached in the 
synagogues of Salamis ; how Bar- Jesus had been 
made blind, and Sergius Paulus converted ; how, 
after many Jews and Gentiles had been con- 
verted in Antioch, they were driven out to Ico- 
nium to win more converts to the Christian faith ; 
how, still pressed by opposition, in Lystra, the 
power of God was manifested ; and how, in Derbe 
many believed. This was the good news they 
brought back. Perhaps Paul spoke of their 

i Farrar: "St. Paul," I. 390. 



JEt.41.] ICONIUM, LYSTRA, AND DERBE. 151 

hardships by the way, their persecutions, and 
the manner in which the Lystrian mob almost 
stoned him to death ; but he was more likely to 
tell of the victories that had been won in the 

name of Christ 



CHAPTER XII. 

THE COUNCIL AT JERUSALEM. 

" It was a great crisis in the history of the church, and of man- 
kind." — Neander. 

" There is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumci- 
sion, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free ; but Christ is all, and in 
all." — CoL.iii. 11. 

A MONG the first persons who came to Jesus 
-£*- was w a man of the Pharisees, named Nico- 
demus," 1 He seems to have wanted to be a 
disciple of Jesus ; but his position was never 
clearly defined. It may be difficult in our day 
to appreciate the obstacles that would stand in 
the way of one who had always been a strict 
Pharisee becoming a follower of Christ. And 
yet, of those whose names appear in the annals 
of early Christianity, a considerable number were 
from that "most straitest sect." All the great 
leaders in the establishment of the first churches 
were Pharisees, — men who had been born and 
trained to exclusiveness in religion, who believed 
that only Jews could be pleasing to God ; that 
circumcision was the only badge of salvation 

1 John iii. 1. 
152 



.Et.42.] THE COUNCIL AT JERUSALEM. 153 

that would be recognized in heaven ; and that 
not one out of all the myriads of the Gentiles 
could become an heir of eternal life, who refused 
to submit to the least requirement of their law 
and tradition, no matter how distasteful, how 
opposed to reason, how contrary to nature, that 
requirement might seem to be. Bigotry and 
narrowness were held as high Pharisaic virtues. 
We can see how, sooner or later, the teach- 
ings of Christ must either revolutionize or else 
come into direct contact with this spirit in those 
Pharisees who became Christians. Paul had 
been revolutionized. . In him the change from 
a strict, punctilious, sectarian Jew to a Great- 
heart, to a most philanthropic and wide-minded 
citizen of the world, and brother of all men, was 
instantaneous and complete ; but there were 
other Pharisees in whom the change was slow. 
This was especially the case in the church at 
Jerusalem, which must have been almost en- 
tirely composed of Jews, the larger part of 
whom were Pharisees, though there were some 
Sadducees, and others also who could not strictly 
be classed with either sect. All these origi- 
nally held opinions which were antagonistic to 
the principles of Christianity ; and it is not sur- 
prising that they were many years in learning 
the folly of their traditional and inherited beliefs, 
and in coining into the largeness and light of 



154 LIFE OF PAUL. [A.D. 49. 

the Gospel. We have seen how Peter was 
taught by a vision that an Italian might be as 
much a child of God as a Jew, and how the con- 
version of certain Samaritans opened the eyes 
of the Jews at Jerusalem. But it was not until 
Gentiles had been admitted into the church at 
Antioch in Syria on equal terms with Jews, and 
Paul had returned from his first missionary tour 
declaring that God " had opened the door of 
faith unto the Gentiles " 1 in Cyprus and Asia 
Minor, that the time was ripe for the final set- 
tlement of the question regarding Jewish exclu- 
siveness in the Christian church. 

Some time after Paul and Barnabas came back 
to Antioch, certain brethren from the church at 
Jerusalem who knew more about Moses than 
they did about Christ, but who, nevertheless, 
desired to be leaders of opinion in the churches, 
visited Antioch, to set in order there some 
things which they thought were wrong. They 
asserted that one could not become a Christian 
who was not already a Jew. To belong to this 
peculiar people, and to share in its religious 
privileges, however, it was not absolutely neces- 
sary that one be born a Jew. Gentiles who 
bound themselves by solemn vows to observe 
the seven precepts: (1) against idolatry; 
(2) against blasphemy ; (3) against blood- 

iActsxiv.27. 



jEt.43.] THE COUNCIL AT JERUSALEM. 155 

shed; (4) against uncleanness ; (5) against 
theft; (6) of obedience; (7) the " prohibi- 
tion of flesh with the blood thereof." 1 were ad- 
mitted as proselytes of the gate. This, though, 
was only the first step, and by the strictest 
Jews it was considered of very little significance. 
Full admission required formal separation from 
the old life, — submission to the rites of both cir- 
cumcision and immersion, and offering sacrifice. 
In this way were made proselytes of righteous- 
ness, who stood ceremonially, at least, on an 
equal footing with the native Jew. But Paul 
and Barnabas had received into the Christian 
churches persons who were neither proselytes 
of righteousness nor even proselytes of the gate. 
Behold, then, the prejudice of these Jewish 
Christians in Jerusalem ! To them the uncir- 
cumcised Gentiles were entirely outside of the 
covenant and promises of God, and it would be 
neither faithful to the law nor fair to the Gen- 
tile Christians themselves to suffer them to be 
deceived into supposing that they were saved, 
when there could be no salvation without cir- 
cumcision. This seems to be about the way the 
matter stood in the minds of those men who 
came to Antioch, declaring to the Christians 
there, "Except ye be circumcised after the 
manner of Moses, ye cannot be saved." It was 

i Smith's Bible Dictionary, in. p. 2606. 



156 LIFE OF PAUL. [A.D. 50. 

not merely a question as to whether Jews who 
had become Christians and Gentiles who had 
become Christians, were to meet together as 
equals or to remain apart as two castes, — the 
Jews always being the superior order, while 
the Gentiles must be satisfied with a more 
humble attitude, — but whether Gentiles could 
be Christians at all or not/- This was the 
question which these Judaizing interlopers 
stirred up in the church at Antioch. But Paul 
and Barnabas met them squarely with the truth 
as Jesus taught it, " He that believeth on 
me hath everlasting life." 1 The church, how- 
ever, was divided ; and it seemed as if the very 
foundations of Christianity were to be shaken to 
pieces, even before they were completed. It 
was especially perplexing to the Gentiles who 
had become Christians, to see those to whom 
they had looked as guides contending over a 
question of such vital importance. Many of 
them must have believed that not only their 
standing in the Christian church, but their eter- 
nal life, depended upon the settlement of the 
debate. It was an occasion of great anxiety for 
the church at Antioch. They preferred, how- 
ever, to have the matter thoroughly examined, 
and settled upon an indisputable basis. Ac- 
cordingly they agreed to send a deputation to 

1 John vi. 47. 



-St. 44.] THE COUNCIL AT JERUSALEM. 157 

Jerusalem to confer with the pastors and apos- 
tles there in regard to it. Barnabas, Saul, and 
Titus, 1 — a young Greek Christian, who himself 
had not been circumcised, — with others, were 
appointed for this purpose. 

The journey overland from Antioch to Jeru- 
salem would occupy nearly a month. The 
apostles followed the coast-road, traversing a 
narrow strip of beautiful country that lay be- 
tween the chain of Lebanon and the sparkling 
sea, passing on their way through fertile grain- 
fields and luxuriant orchards, and halting in 
every town and village to tell the Christians, 
who would hastily gather to listen to them, how 
the Gentiles had been converted ; for already 
there were Christian churches all along this 
coast, and Paul wanted them to know the good 
news. In this way they passed through Phoe- 
nicia and Samaria, gladdening all hearts, until 
they reached the ever- famous city sitting on its 
two hills, and crow T ned with that temple which 
looked from a distance like w a mount of snow, 
fretted with golden pinnacles." 2 

James,* Peter, and John were the represen- 
tatives of the mother-church ; and with them 
Paul, Barnabas, and Titus held their first con- 
ference, and apparently these six men came to 

i Acts xv. 2; Gal. ii. 1. 

2 Milman: " History of the Jews," n. 343. 



158 LIFE OF PAUL. [A.D. 60. 

a mutual understanding. But they were not 
competent to decide authoritatively upon the 
questions at issue without consulting the church. 
A public meeting was called, and, as was inevita- 
ble, but not necessarily harmful, there followed 
considerable sharp questioning and discussion ; 
and the Christian Pharisees again asserted, 
what had already been declared with great 
positiveness at Antioch, that the Gentile Chris- 
tians must be circumcised and keep the law of 
Moses. At length Peter rose to speak. He 
reminded them that God had taught him to 
make no distinctions of this kind ; that, as a 
matter of fact, even there in Palestine, Gentiles 
had been converted, and that Jews as well as 
they might hope to be saved only " through the 
grace of the Lord Jesus Christ." The great 
audience was silent. Peter's argument was un- 
answerable. In a few moments Barnabas ad- 
dressed the assembly and also Paul, both of 
whom related the wonderful things God had 
done through them on their recent missionary 
tour in Pisidia and Lycaonia. 

But there was still another whose opinion was 
waited for by the multitude, — the pastor of the 
Jerusalem church, f? James the Just." 

God uses for the progress of His work both 
men of extreme and of radical opinions, and also 
men of moderate views, — middle men, who, 



JEt. 44.] THE COUNCIL AT JERUSALEM. 159 

on occasions when the church is divided into 
factions, can stand between, and, reaching a 
hand toward each, can draw the two parties to- 
gether. Such a man was James. The Phari- 
saic Christians respected his judgment, as did 
also those who had adopted the larger and more 
spiritual view of Christianity. This man w now 
came forward, and solemnly pronounced that the 
Mosaic rites were not of eternal obligation," 2 
and that the Gentile Christians ought not to be 
troubled about them ; that if they abandoned 
the worship of idols and the immoral practices 
to which they had been accustomed, and be- 
lieved on the Lord Jesus, it was enough. This 
carried the assembly, and immediately a vote 
was passed unanimously adopting the following 
letter as the expression of the mother-church 
to all the mission-churches ; and Judas and Silas, 
" chief among the brethren," were appointed 
the accredited messengers to accompany Paul 
and Barnabas and Titus on their return to An- 
tioch as the official bearers of the decree of the 
Council. 

" The Apostles and the Elders and the Brethren, to the 

Gentile Brethren in Antioch and Syria and Cilicia. 
"Greeting: 2 

" Whereas we have heard that certain men who went 
out from us have troubled you with words, and unsettled 

1 Conybeare and Howson, I. 216. 

2 Compare Conybeare and Howson, I. 221. 



160 LIFE Otf PAUL. [A.D. 50. 

your souls by telling you to circumcise yourselves and 
keep the Law, although we^gave them no such commis- 
sion: 

"It has been determined by us, being assembled with 
one accord, to chose some from amongst ourselves, and 
send them to you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul, 
men that have hazarded their lives for the name of our 
Lord Jesus Christ. We have sent, therefore, Judas and 
Silas, who themselves also will tell you by word the 
same which we tell you by letter. 

" For it has been determined by the Holy Ghost and 
by us, to lay upon you no greater burden than these nec- 
essary things : That ye abstain from meats offered to 
idols, and from blood and from things strangled and 
from fornication. Wherefrom if ye keep yourselves it 
shall be well with you. 1 Farewell." 

This letter went to the churches a messenger 
of wisdom and peace. It lifted a great burden 
from the hearts of the Gentile Christians, while 
at the same moment it set definite bounds for 
their conduct on the side toward heathenism. 
See, in the assembly of Christians at Antioch, 
what eagerness sits upon every face while they 
wait for the reading of the letter ! Not one 
word is lost ; but there may have been some 

1 Paul adds, in the second chapter of the Epistle to the Gala- 
tians, three facts, not mentioned by Luke : 1. That Titus, who ac- 
companied them from Antioch, though a Greek, was not circum- 
cised (v. 3). 2. That John, who had been silent in the Council, 
united with James and Peter in giving Barnabas and him the hand 
of fellowship on their departure (v. 9). 3. That the brethren in 
Jerusalem urged him in his future travels among the wealthy 
Gentiles not to forget the poor saints at Jerusalem (v. 10). 



JEt. 44.1 THE COUNCIL AT JERUSALEM. 161 

things not clearly understood until Judas and 
Silas explained more fully just what the church 
at Jerusalem meant. Where now are those 
busybodies who in the first place stirred up this 
trouble by asserting that the Gentiles must be 
circumcised ? They have entirely disappeared. 
The strong and clear statement of the truth has 
been like a rising tide, which cleanses the sands 
and buries in its beautiful depths many an offen- 
sive mass of death and decay. 

The two men who went from Jerusalem to 
Antioch with the letter to the churches soon 
afterward returned ; but Silas had become so 
much interested in Paul and his work that 
not long after he is in Antioch again, and after- 
ward went with the Great Apostle to visit the 
churches in Asia Minor, and accompanied him 
into Greece. 

All these men, Paul, Barnabas, Titus, Silas, 
Mark, with perhaps those first ministers in 
Antioch, Simeon Niger, Lucius, and Menahem, 
and no doubt some others whose names are un- 
known, continued to preach Christ to the peo- 
ple of the great and wicked city. But the good 
work of God never moves on with special suc- 
cess without meeting some obstacles ; and on 
this occasion the obstacle arose in an unex- 
pected quarter. Peter also wa's at the Syrian 
capital, and had apparently been engaged *in the 



162 LIFE OF PAUL. [A.D. 50. 

work of the Gospel with the rest. l In harmony 
with the decree of the Jerusalem council, and 
also with his own conduct at Caesarea, 2 he 
mingled freely with the Gentile Christians, even 
to eating with them. This he continued to do, 
until some of those Jewish Christians of James' 
church, who had not yet learned by heart that 
" God is no respecter of persons," came and saw 
how free and liberal he was. At once they com- 
menced to find fault and ridicule and argue with 
him, and to protest against such questionable 
conduct. Peter was always a vacillator, and 
under the pressure of these men he weakly 
yielded, and withdrew from the fellowship of the 
Gentile Christians. Others went off with Peter, 
and even Barnabas was carried away by the 
false representations, to deny to the Gentiles 
that larger liberty which he had advocated and 
practised in Cyprus and Lycaonia, and, "in re- 
membering that he was a Levite forgot that he 
was a Christian." 3 This was a thrust at the 
truth from one of its friends, which Paul must 
parry. In public, therefore, on some occasion 
when Peter was present, the holy indignation of 
this younger but truer man broke out in rebuke 
of the one who had been so much longer a dis- 
ciple, and who had enjoyed personal companion- 

i Gal. ii. 11-21. 2 Acts x. 34, 35. 

3 Farrar: "St. Paul," i. 441. 



JEt.44.] THE COUNCIL AT JERUSALEM. 163 

ship for three or four years with the Lord 
himself, but who had through fear denied the 
truth. 

It may be that this was the beginning of that 
alienation of Barnabas from Paul, which ended 
very soon in their final separation as mission- 
aries. But between Peter and Paul there was 
no quarrel. It is more than probable that Peter, 
with his natural susceptibility, was convinced of 
his error on the spot and acknowledged it. We 
read the generous, loving words he wrote years 
afterward, " our beloved brother Paul"; 1 and 
with them in mind can throw the cloak of 
charity over the mistake of this impetuous, 
large-hearted servant of our Lord, and, think- 
ing of our own faults, can pray for a spirit of 
repentance as quick and as thorough as his. 

i 2 Peter, iii. 15. 



PART THIRD. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

THROUGH ASIA MINOR. 

" For thine own purpose, thou hast sent 
The strife and the discouragement." 

H. W. Longfellow. 
" Awake ! why linger in the gorgeous town, 
Sworn liegemen of the Cross and thorny crown ? 

Keble. 

AGAIX peace reigned in the Antioch 
churches ; and, as soon as this was evi- 
dent to him, ?f the old mission-hunger seized the 
heart of Paul," and he must be away to the 
regions beyond. He could not remain at 
Antioch, where there were so many others 
who could do the work. His heart was turn- 
ing toward the little churches Barnabas and he 
had gathered in Asia Minor. To Barnabas, 
therefore, he made the proposal that they go 
and visit the brethren in every city where they 
went before, and see how they do. 1 It was 
about five years before that these two men 
left Antioch to go to Cyprus, taking John 
Mark with them. That young man did not 

i Acts xv. 36. 

167 



168 LIFE OF PAUL. [A.D. 45. 

prove to be a very bold champion ; and so, 
when Barnabas proposed to try him again, and 
insisted even that they should take him, Paul 
objected. To Paul friendship and relationship 
were of small importance compared with the 
success of the Gospel ; and he feared that, 
instead of being helped, they would only he 
hindered, by a companion who at a critical 
moment might desert them. There was a 
" sharp contention " between the missionary 
pioneers. It is not to be wondered at that 
these two great positive characters could not 
always agree upon subordinate matters. The 
same God who made them great also made .them 
different ; and we can now see how their separa- 
tion may have resulted in greater good than 
their continued companionship might have, for 
by this means two lines of operation instead of 
one were opened. Barnabas would not re- 
linquish the idea of taking his cousin Mark 
with him. He took him, therefore, and, 
leaving Antioch, went to Cyprus, his native 
island; and whatever sphere of usefulness he 
may have filled in the churches there, either at 
Salamis or Paphos, the history from this point 
onward never mentions his name, nor makes 
the slightest reference to his work. On the 
contrary, Paul chose Silas ; and, while Bar- 
nabas and Mark went away unnoticed, these 



JEt. 45.] * THROUGH ASIA MINOR. 169 

two receive at their departure the distinguish- 
ing honor of being "commended by the Breth- 
ren to the grace of the Lord." 

Paul's first object was to visit the churches 
which Barnabas and he had organized in Cilicia 
and Lycaonia and Phrygia, and to carry to 
them the letter sent from the Jerusalem church. 
With Silas, therefore, he left Antioch, and 
probably took the road directly to the north 
across Mount Amanus by the Syrian Gates, at 
the northern exit of which they came to the 
town of Alexandria, and a few miles farther 
to Issus. Still pushing on, they would soon 
turn their faces toward the west, descend into 
the plain of Cilicia, cross the rivers Djihan and 
Seihun, pass through Mopsuestia, Adana, and 
the rich, beautiful country lying around these 
towns, to the swift-running Cydnus and to Tar- 
sus, the great missionary's native city. This 
was a spot dear to Paul. He had preached in 
Tarsus three years, and doubtless there was a 
Christian church here. It was still a heathen 
city, " the temples and statues of false gods lin- 
ing its streets : " l but the good seed had been 
planted and was bearing fruit. 

The upper valley of the Cydnus, into the 
snowy Taurus, and by the cliff-guarded Cili- 
cian Gates, opened a highway to the table- 

1 Macduff: " Footsteps of St. Paul," 159. 



170 LIFE OF PAUL. [A.D. 51. 

land of Central Asia Minor, and by this road 
the apostles go, — Paul again braving the 
dangers and hardships of a wild and robber- 
infested country. Three or four days from 
Tarsus would bring the travellers to that little 
mountain-town of Derbe, the last point which 
Paul and Barnabas reached in their former 
journey from the opposite direction. Their 
coming now must have been a delightful 
surprise to the Christians. In the absence 
of historical statements we are left to wonder, 
Was Gaius the pastor of the little flock ? l Did 
they press inquiries upon Paul about Barna- 
bas, why he did not come again? Did they 
welcome Silas ? Did they make a contribution 
for the poor saints in Jerusalem? Had they 
kept the faith? 

They came next to Lystra, where Paul had 
been stoned and carried out supposed to be dead. 
It was strange that in this obscure town, away 
back of the mountains, Paul should have found 
the one Christian heart whom he loved more 
than any other, — - the one whom, from this time 
to the end of his life, he distinguished by the 
affectionate titles : "My own son in the faith," 
"My beloved son," "Son Timothy," "My 
brother," "My work-fellow." 2 There was no 
one, in the Great Apostle's estimation, like Timo- 

i Acts xx. 4. 2 phil. ii. 20. 



At. 46.] THROUGH ASIA MINOR. 171 

thy. "He was, more than any other, the alter 
ego of the Apostle. Their knowledge of each 
other was mutual ; and one whose yearning and 
often lacerated heart had such deep need of a 
kindred spirit on which to lean for sympathy, 
and whose distressing infirmities rendered nec- 
essary to him the personal services of some 
affectionate companion, must have regarded the 
devoted tenderness of Timothy as a special gift 
of God to save him from being crushed by over- 
much sorrow." 1 

Probably, on entering the town, Paul and Silas 
went directly to Timothy's home, and their 
wants were provided for by his mother, Eunice, 
while the aged grandmother, Lois, conversed 
with them of all the wonderful things that God 
had done the last twenty years, and the youth, 
Timothy, listened. Already Paul, seeing that 
he possessed the spirit of a missionary, had 
set his heart upon him, and he would take him 
away to the work. Timothy's mother was a 
Jewess ; but their residence in this heathen dis- 
trict, where there was no Jewish synagogue, 
had resulted in the neglect of circumcision. 
This rite having been performed, because Timo- 
thy was a Jew, and "because of the Jews 
which were in those quarters," "the gentle boy 
of Lystra " was formally ordained to the minis- 

i Farrar: "St. Paul," 1.459. 



172 LIFE OF PAUL. [A.D. 51. 

try, henceforth to endure hardships as a good 
soldier of the cross of Christ. 

From Lystra the Apostle with his two com- 
panions proceeded to Iconium, and on to An- 
tioch in Pisidia. This was the end of the mis- 
sion Paul had purposed when he left Antioch 
on the Orontes ; but the " mission-hunger " 
would not let him rest. There was still a vast 
and widening circle where the Gospel had not 
been preached ; so that, after they had visited all 
the fields where the Word had been spoken, and 
had seen the churches settled upon good foun- 
dations, he set his face toward the wildest and 
most neglected district of Asia Minor, feeling 
that the people there most of all needed the 
knowledge of Jesus the Saviour. 

Antioch lay in the northern corner of Pisidia, 
hugged around, north, east, and west, by the 
province of Phrygia. Into this province, then, the 
apostolic band went, crossing the mountain-ridge 
Paroreia to the town of Philomelium, where they 
would strike the main road. The New Testa- 
ment gives us no particulars at all of this jour- 
ney, except that they went through Phrygia and 
the region of Galatia. 1 We are obliged, there- 
fore, to content ourselves with following what 
would be the most natural course for them to 
take in traversing these provinces. This course, 

1 Acts xvi. 6. 



JEt. 45.] THROUGH ASIA MINOR. 173 

probably, brought them to the largest cities of 
these districts, — to cities many of which are 
known now only by their ruins : Synnada, 
Docymeum, Doryleum, Midaeium.and Tricomia, 1 
until they came, as they travelled east through 
Phrygia, to the borders of Galatia. 

Galatia has a special interest for us, on account 
of the letter which Paul afterwards wrote to the 
churches there, and of the warm affection he 
maintained for those whom he met on this first 
visit. Its history is curious. In the first place, 
the name Gahtia takes our thoughts back to 
ancient Gaul, which Caesar conquered, and which 
in our day is France. The Gauls were a brave 
and pushing race of people ; but they did not 
possess the spirit or genius of permanent local- 
ized nationality. 

Their migrations and constant wars with the 
surrounding nations scattered them. Some re- 
mained upon the original territory, and were 
the progenitors of the modern French. A rem- 
nant of them found their way into the north of 
Scotland, to become the fathers of the Gaels, and 
to develop the Gaelic dialect. Another branch 
is seen in Wales, originally called Wallia, or 
Gallia; still another appears in Ireland ; while 
one pushed south through the Pyrenees, swarmed 
across northern Italy into Macedonia, leaped the 

1 Lewin, i. 177, and map, p. 164. 



174 LIFE OF PAUL. [A.D. 51. 

Hellespont, spread their tents for a little time in 
the plains around ancient Troy, pillaged and 
desolated the less warlike countries of Asia 
Minor, until finally, by the consolidation of other 
tribes, they were driven back to a limited terri- 
tory in the heart of the peninsula, to which was 
given the name Galatia. This territory was 
originally divided between three tribes having 
three capitals : Pessinus, Ancyra, and Tavium. 
When, in B. C. 25, Galatia became a Koinan 
province, Ancyra — possibly on account of its 
central position — was made the capital of the 
whole province. 

Paul and Silas and Timothy would come first 
to Pessinus. This had been for centuries the 
religious heart of Galatia. Here the " Nature- 
worship which found its centre in Cybele, the 
great mother of the gods," 1 had been main- 
tained, and it was not entirely dead in Paul's 
day. At Ancyra (the bright, busy, modern 
city of Angora) they saw "the gorgeous temple 
of white marble," 2 built in honor of Augustus, 
to whom divine rites were here celebrated. 
Still farther east w^as Tavium, the commercial 
emporium of this part of Asia Minor. Five 
great roads centred in this city, which, in addi- 
tion to the fact that it was situated on the banks 

1 Plumptre : " St. Paul in Asia Minor," p. 155. 

2 Lewin, I. 133. 



jEt.46.] THROUGH ASIA MINOR. 175 

of one of the tributaries of the Halys, are suf- 
ficient evidence of the amount of traffic which 
passed through Tavium. To each of these 
cities the missionaries went with the story, so 
new and strange to the people, of the Saviour, 
Jesus ; and in each of them, probably, Christian 
churches were at this time organized. 1 

Paul's letter, written to these churches from 
Corinth several years afterward, speaks from the 
heart the memory of his first reception by the 
Galatians. 2 He seems to have been ill on his 
arrival there or soon after, and this may have 
obliged him to remain longer than he otherwise 
would. Lewin and Farrar assume that this 
r infirmity of the flesh " was " acute ophthalmia, 
accompanied, as it often is, by violent cerebral 
disturbance," 3 which was so severe as rf not only 
to injure the vision, but also to render him a 
distressing object to every beholder." 4 The 
Apostle's condition appealed to the sympathy of 
the warm-hearted Galatians, and they treated 
him with enthusiastic devotion. Many of them 
had received the word of eternal life from his 
lips ; and, as he reminds them in his letter, they 

1 One of the leading churches of the first centuries was that at 
Ancyra. Councils convened there in A.D. 314 and 358. See Mil- 
man's " History of Christianity," in. Book iv. chap. 1. 

2 Gal. iv. 12-15. 

3 Farrar : " St. Paul," I. 467. 

4 Lewin, I. 186. 



176 LIFE OF PAUL. [A.D. 52. 

would have dug out their own eyes and given 
them to him, if it had been possible. 

We must, however, hasten out of this interior 
province, following the restless footsteps of the 
hurrying herald and his companions, as they 
fly from one great centre to another with the 
glad tidings. "The world was to be Chris- 
tianized by a few fishermen from Galilee and a 
tent-maker from Tarsus, and it was neces- 
sary that their labors should be so husbanded 
that the Christian ministry might be the most 
effective." 1 - * 

We see them going through Phrygia, appar- 
ently with the intention of turning southwest 
into the province of Asia, to visit all the rich 
country and flourishing cities in the valley of 
the Meander, and of making Ephesus the ter- 
mination of their journey ; but " the inward guid- 
ance, in which they recognized the teaching of 
the Spirit," 2 turns them from this purpose. 
They push on to the borders of Mysia, thinking 
that they will go north into Bithynia ; but again 
a true and strong conviction is borne in upon 
their minds that this is not just the course which 
will best promote the Kingdom of Christ, and 
they keep straight on, until they come into that 
classic ground lying in the morning-shadow of 
Mount Ida, where, — 

i Lewin, I. 192, 2 piumptre, p. 173. 



jEt.46.] THROUGH ASIA MINOR. 177 

" When both armies were arrayed for war, 
Each with its ships, the Trojan host moved on 
With shouts and clang of arms, as when the cry 
Of cranes is in the air, that, flying south 
From winter and its mighty breadth of rain, 
Wing their way over ocean, and at dawn 
Bring fearful battle to the pigmy race, 
Bloodshed and death. But silently the Greeks 
Went forward, breathing valor, mindful still 
To aid each other in the coming fray." 1 

Having passed around the southern spur of 
Mount Ida, they went down its western slopes, 
before them in the distance the " blue waters of 
the iEgean " bathing Tenedos, Imbros, Lemnos, 
and Samothracia, while at their feet lay Alexan- 
dria Troas, — a port at whose docks they were 
quite sure to find vessels waiting to carry them 
back to Antioch, to Jerusalem, or forward to 
Athens, to Rome, or to any other point on the 
Mediterranean where they might decide to go. 
In this city the footsore travellers find a lodging- 
place. The soft wings of night are spread over 
them. They commit themselves to the care 
and guidance of Him who never leaves nor for- 
sakes His followers ; and blessed sleep comes to 
the weary eyes of Paul and Silas and Timothy 
in this strange city, while they do not know 
what their next step will be. 

1 niad, Bryant's transl., in. 110. 



CHAPTEE XIV. 

UP TO PHILIPPI. 

" Go ye, therefore, and make disciples of all nations." — Matt. 
xxviii. 19. (Revised Version.) 

" And we glode fast o'er a pellucid plain 
Of waters, azure with the noon-tide ray. 
Ethereal mountains shone around : a fane 
Stood in the midst, beyond green isles which lay 
On the blue, sunny deep, resplendent far away." — Shelley. 

" Thrice was I beaten with rods." — 2 Cor. xi. 25. 

CAN never picture to myself without emo- 
-■- tion," said a great French preacher, "the 
moment when St. Paul reached the seashore 
at Troas, and for the first time stood gazing 
across the blue waters of the Hellespont towards 
Europe. Already, in the first rapture of his 
missionary ardor, had he traversed the entire 
Western Asia, proclaiming Jesus Christ. . . . 
But . . . beyond the sea rolling at his feet he 
sees Greece, with her arts and her divinities, 
which had charmed the world ; he sees Rome, 
the mistress city, with all peoples kneeling 
before her ; he takes in this world with the 
broad glance of his apostolic ambition ; he 
178 



JST.46.] UP TO PHILIPPI. 179 

dreams this dream, strange, extravagant, of 
subjecting it to Jesus Christ." 1 

Not a day seems to have been spent at Troas. 
That night in a vision the form of a Macedonian 
stood before Paul and said, "Come over into 
Macedonia and help us ! " 2 This he understood 
to be, as it no doubt was, the divine direction ; 
and with devout promptness he obeyed the com- 
mand of his Lord, delivered by the lips of a man 
from Macedonia, and at once in the early morn- 
ing the apostles might have been seen on the 
wharves inquiring about the sailings of different 
vessels, and securing their passage for Neapolis 
in the northern province of Greece. 

Another figure appears at this point in the 
apostolic group, — "Luke the beloved phj^sician." 
This is indicated by the single word " we," by 
which the writer of the history modestly intro- 
duces himself with the other three as they are 
leaving Troas. Up to this point he has invari- 
ably used the pronoun "they." Luke was a 
resident of Antioch in Syria, and Paul and he 
probably began in that city the acquaintance 
which, during the great missionary's life, afforded 
him so much comfort ; for there was no one, ex- 
cept Timothy, to whom Paul was so much at- 
tached as to Luke. It has been assumed that it 
was probably not by mere accident that they left 

1 Eugene Bersier : " St. Paul's Vision." 2 Col. iv. 14. 



180 LIFE OF PAUL. 



[A.D. 52. 



Troas together ; but that Paul's health was in such 
a condition that he needed the care of some ex- 
perienced and loving hand. Luke accompanied 
them to Philippi, where they parted company 
to meet again after several years, when on the 
third missionary journey Paul once more re- 
turned to this city. 1 

The vessel on leaving the dock at Troas 
turned her dancing prow straight to the north- 
west; and, while the south wind filled her sails 
and the glad sailors sang a rolling song in time 
with her quick movement, she sped on from 
shore to shore a hundred miles or more, till the 
plains of Troy sunk out of sight and Mount 
Ida grew dim behind a purple veil. Gliding 
around Tenedos and Imbros, she anchored for 
the night under the northern lee of Samothrace, 
from far above whose snow-crowned peak 
(from which, as Homer tells, Neptune watched 
the battles of the Greeks and Trojans before the 
gates of Troy) the Infinite God watched over 
the little vessel with its precious freight, rock- 
ing by the shore. In the morning the first ray 

1 " The natural inference is, that during the interval Luke had 
continued at his post in Philippi. It was probably during this pe- 
riod that Luke composed his Gospel for the Greeks, as Matthew had 
done before for the Hebrews, and as Mark did afterwards for the 
Latins. When Paul returned to Philippi, in A.D. 57, and wrote 
the Second Epistle to the Corinthians, the Gospel of Luke had 
been recently published, for Paul speaks of him as ' the brother 
whose praise is in the Gospel' [2 Cor. viii. 18]."— Lewin, i. 221. 



i£r.46.] up to philippi. 181 

of sunlight that shot across the waves saw them 
leaving their anchorage at this island, and car- 
ried forward by a most favorable breeze. Soon 
they are watching the mountainous coast of 
Macedonia, and before nightfall they pass be- 
tween Thasos and the mainland and run into the 
harbor of Neapolis. 

The apostles of Christ are now upon the soil of 
the most remarkable and farthest-famed country 
of the world, At that date Greece was cut up into 
a number of Roman provinces ; but her glory and 
life had not departed. She was Greece still, — 
the Greece of Homer and Demosthenes and Peri- 
cles and Alexander. Her name was then, as it 
has been ever since, the talismanic symbol for 
all that is most ideal in literature and art. Her 
cities were the most beautiful in all the world, 
and her citizens were the proudest # of their citi- 
zenship. They had good reason for their dig- 
nified pride. "There were never any better 
soldiers ; never any better sailors : never any 
better colonizers and traders ; never any better 
sculptors, painters, architects; never any better 
orators, poets, historians, critics, rhetoricians, 
philosophers, mathematicians ; never any better 
leaders, statesmen, diplomatists ; never any bet- 
ter gymnasts, any better gentlemen, any bet- 
ter wits, than you will find among the ancient 
Greeks; and certainly, in proportion to the 



182 LIFE OF PAUL. [A.D. 52. 

number of the whole people, never so many 
eminent, in the various ways thus indicated." l 
We may add to this that, with the exception of 
one small nation, there were no people in the 
first century whose ideas of religion were in ad- 
vance of those of the most devout Greeks. Yet 
how far they were from the worship of the true 
God, one might learn by going from city to city, 
and observing the myriad statues which lined 
their streets, and the myriad altars to deities, 
known and unknown, which crowded their tem- 
ples. The most advanced religious thought of 
Greece did not dare to entertain a conception of 
deity higher than Olympian Jove, with all his 
weakness and wickedness. This country, rich 
in literature and art, rich in the memories of 
heroes and the stories of divinities, was yet ig- 
norant of the love and patience of the Father in 
Heaven, and of the Gospel of His only-begotten 
Son. What a field for the seed which is the 
word of God ! 

The Egnatian Road, the great thoroughfare 
which crossed Macedonia from east to west and 
tied together the four capitals of its four great 
divisions, had its eastern terminus at Neapolis. 
From here it crossed the pass of Pangseus, back 
of the port, and descended on the opposite slope 
to Philippi, about ten miles. Then turning to 

1 W. C. Wilkinson : " Preparatory Greek Course," p. 9. 



JEt.46.] UP TO PHILIPPI. 183 

the southwest it reached Thessalonica through 
a distance of a hundred miles over mountains 
and valleys. From here, passing westward, the 
next capital, Pell a, was taken in, and last, 
Pelagonia or Heraclea, in the interior of the 
province, after leaving which the great road 
made as straight a course as was possible in 
those days to Apollonia on the western coast. 
It was a passage of only a few hours from Apol- 
lonia to Brundusium, where the traveller to 
Rome set foot upon the Appian Way. 

When then Paul and his companions landed 
at Neapolis they were on the highway to the 
Imperial city ; and if it had been the purpose of 
the Apostle to go directly there, and on the way 
to preach the Gospel in the cities of Macedonia, 
his first steps would have been the very ones he 
took. They went directly to Philippi. 

We might linger for hours delighted along 
this road going out of Neapolis, and climbing 
the steep hills. We would often stop and look 
back at the town below, — the forest of masts /the 
beautiful bay, and in the distance the summits 
of Samothrace, Thasos, and Athos. At length 
the top of the ridge is reached, when another 
view opens, — -a valley stretching from east to 
west, across which the cool Gangas J streams. 

1 See Lewin, I. 208, and Hackett, " Commentary on Acts," 
xvi. 13; called by Farrar "Gangites"; by Howson, " Gaggitas." 



184 LIFE OF PAUL. [A.D. 52. 

The background is dark, forest-covered moun- 
tains, on the southern slope of which lies a city, 
the present destination of our four missionaries. 
"One feels himself," so Kenan writes, "in an 
atmosphere similar to that which gave birth to 
the bucolic and sentimental poetry of Virgil. 
The plain, ever-verdant, presented the varied 
cultivation of vegetables and flowers. Fine 
springs, gushing out from the foot of the moun- 
tain of golden marble, spread, when well- 
directed, richness, shade, and freshness. Groups 
of poplars, willows, fig-trees, cherry-trees, and 
wild vines, breathing out the most delicious 
odor, hide the streams which flow on every side. 
Elsewhere, fields inundated, or covered with 
high reeds, contained herds of buffalo, with dull, 
white eyes and enormous horns, their heads 
alone above the water ; while bees and swarms 
of black and blue butterflies whirl about the "flow- 
ers. The Pangseus, with its majestic summits cov- 
ered with snow till the month of June, advances 
as if to cross the marsh and join the city. Beau- 
tiful chains of mountains close in the horizon 
on all the other sides, only leaving one opening 
through which the sky escapes, and shows us in 
the clear distance the basin of the Strymon." 1 

About four centuries earlier than the period 
which we are studying, Philip of Macedon, in 

i " St. Paul," p. 112. 



JET.46.] UP TO PHILIPPI. 185 

the first flush of his victorious career, in order 
to protect his northern border, seized the little 
town of Crenides, erected a strong fortress on 
the overhanging mountain, and re-named it after 
himself, Philippi. By continued patronage 
Philip raised the insignificant town into a large 
and prosperous city, — an eminence which it 
maintained through all the varied fortunes of the 
next four centuries, until Augustus conferred 
upon it the privileges of a free Soman colony, 
with exemption from taxes and with local self- 
government. At the same time he settled there 
a colony of native Italian soldiers. Philippi, 
therefore, was another Eome on a small scale. 
It was peopled by Romans, its citizens spoke 
the Roman tongue, and prided themselves in 
Roman manners and customs. There were very 
few Jews in the city, and there was no syna- 
gogue. 

The apostles arrived two or three days before 
the Sabbath, — days which, we may presume, 
were spent to good purpose in making the ac- 
quaintance of those who were inclined to the 
worship of Jehovah. When the Sabbath morning 
came they went to the place or house ? * where 
prayer was wont to be made/' This place was 
outside the city-walls, toward the west, not far 
from the Egnatian Road, nncl on the bank of the 
Gangas. If Paul's vision at Troas of ?? a man " 



186 LIFE OF PAUL. [A.D. 52. 

calling for help ; if the work of the four mis- 
sionaries during the days before the Sabbath 
had led them to expect a congregation of men, 
they must have been disappointed, for they 
found women only. Women only ! But where, 
since Christ was born, have not women been 
readiest to receive the Gospel and most zealous 
that others should be blessed by its message? 
There are men in our day who cannot quite un- 
derstand that a woman is in every way as im- 
portant a factor in the cause of truth as a man. 
Paul, eighteen hundred years ago, understood 
this thoroughly. It was with no fainthearted- 
ness, on account of the supposed insignificance 
of the occasion, that he spoke the word of life 
that day. There was one, at least, and possibly 
more, whose names are not mentioned, who 
listened to catch every word ; for she wanted to 
know a better way of life. Lydia had been for 
some years in Philippi, engaged in the business 
of importing purple goods from Thyatira for 
the Philippian market, and had become inde- 
pendently rich. Her heart the Lord opened. 
She accepted the salvation offered through the 
death of Jesus, and sealed her profession of 
faith by being baptized. Lydia's " household," 
too, whether servants or children, believed with 
her and followed her example. 

And then we are presented with a picture of 



Mt.46.] UP TO PHILIPPI. 187 

Christian hospitality in that remote Macedonian 
city which shines like a gem of purest ray. 
These men of God had brought great joy to 
Lydia ; and it would be only an additional 
pleasure to take them to her home and share 
it with them as long as they remained in the 
city. This she insisted upon doing, until the 
four missionaries, leaving the lodging-house 
where they had found such meagre accommoda- 
tions as they could afford to pay for, accepted 
the comforts of this Christian home. So the 
sun shone upon the commencement of the mis- 
sion in Europe, and comfort and joy gladdened 
the hearts of teachers and disciples. But it is 
not in this way that the work always goes on. 
The true soldier is not surprised when sum- 
moned to " endure hardness " ; and to this Paul 
was soon called. 

Among the evil practices of the old days was 
a pretension, on the part of certain men, that 
they were able to discover the divine wishes 
and intentions, and the mysteries of the future, 
which were a sealed book to ordinary mortals. 
We have already seen one such pretender, — Ely- 
mas of C3 prus. Here in Philippi some men, 
two or more, owned a maniac girl, — possessed 
with an evil spirit, — whose w r ild ravings they 
palmed off upon the credulous people for the 
utterances of Apollo ; and the people gladly paid 



188 LIFE OF PAUL, [A.D. 52. 

for the imposition. One day, as the apostles 
were going along the street to the place of 
prayer and worship, this girl met them, and 
turning about followed them, and with frantic 
gestures screamed after them : " These men are 
the servants of the Most High God, who shew 
unto you the way of salvation." Day after day, 
as they passed by, she repeated this exhibition. 
It was very much the same as that which oc- 
curred on several occasions in the presence of 
Jesus. "Unclean spirits, when they saw him, 
fell down before him and cried, saying : Thou 
art the son of God. 1 " And at length Paul did 
for her that which our Lord had done for many 
similarly afflicted. It troubled him sorely, — not, 
we may believe, on his own account, but for 
her sake, that she should be in such a debased 
condition. The word was put into his mouth ; 
and the authority to speak it was thrust upon 
him, as he turned and said to the frantic spirit 
that possessed the girl : " I command thee, in 
the name of Jesus Christ, to come out of her." 
The ravings ceased. She came to herself. But 
when the evil spirit came out of this slave her 
owners' hope of gain came out too. Their 
purses were touched and their fury was let 
loose. As soon as they heard of the event, 
therefore, they violently seized Paul and Silas 

i Mark iii. 11 ; Matt. viii. 29 ; Luke iv. 41 ; viii. 28. 



JET. 46.] UP TO PHILIPPI. 189 

and dragged them before the magistrates in the 
market-place or forum. It was a new excite- 
ment for the ordinarily quiet city ; and it did 
not take long for a crowd to gather of those 
who were most likely to be in sympathy with 
the owners of the exorcised slave. The charge 
brought against them was in three counts : 
they were Jews, they were making trouble in 
the city, they were teaching unlawful religious 
rites. To these charges the crowd unanim- 
ously agreed ; and the pusillanimous magistrates, 
carried away by the shout of the multitude, 
without giving the apostles an opportunity to 
defend themselves, ordered the lictors to scourge 
them. See the two holy men, hurried into the 
open Agora amid the hisses' of the mob, their 
hands tied to a post, and their clothes torn from 
them until their backs are bared ! See the lic- 
tors loosening their fasces, testing the tough elm- 
rods, and then laying on the sharp, whistling 
blows, till the quivering flesh is lifted in ridges, 
and the blood runs ! But this cruel indignity is 
not enough to satisfy these men for the loss of 
their infatuated, gain-producing slave. Near at 
hand is a frowning prison, in the most safely- 
guarded ward of which is an inner prison, where 
lie the stocks. Away to the inner prison with 
these disturbers of the pagan peace of our city ! 



190 LIFE OF PAUL. 



[A.D. 52. 



Wedge their feet fast in the stocks ! Double- 
bolt the prison-door ! 

Such treatment was not only unjust and 
cruel; it was unlawful, for Paul and Silas were 
no ordinary wandering Jews. They were both 
Roman citizens. This fact the magistrates may 
not have known ; and it would have been almost 
impossible for Paul or Silas (who at this time 
at least probably could not speak Latin) to 
make them understand, in the haste and con- 
fusion of the arrest and condemnation, that they 
possessed equal rights with the magistrates 
themselves, 

Midnight has settled in upon the city. Mount 
Pangeeus towers over it, black and portentous. 
There is silence in the market-place and every 
street. The injudicious magistrates, the hard- 
hearted lictors, the shouting mob, are all asleep. 
Silence reigns around the grim old prison. The 
guards are drowsy, the jailer is sleeping. But 
there are two men in Philippi this midnight 
awake. The soft echoes of trustful, pleading 
prayer are heard from "the inner prison," 
followed by two manly voices in unison, sing- 
ing praises to God f? for his goodness and for 
his wonderful works to the children of men." 
It was a new sound within those walls. Curses 
and groans and threats had often made the 
nights there terrible, and disturbed those who 



JET. 46.] UP TO PHILIPPI. 191 

would sleep ; but w that hymn, falling and 
swelling, with its strange music and foreign 
words," l produced an impression upon the 
listening prisoners such as they had never 
experienced before. From cell to cell, and 
through every corridor, the song of praise is 
floating, when " suddenly " there comes crashing 
under and through the ground a roaring earth- 
quake, shaking the foundations of the prison, 
and loosening the prisoner's chains "from the 
staples in the wall." 2 The song ceases. The 
prayer is answered. The arrest, the scourging, 
the few hours in prison, the prayer, the song, 
the earthquake, are so many stages in the 
progress of the Gospel to greater conquests. 
See! "The jailer, roused out of sleep, and 
seeing the prison-doors open, drew his sword 
and was about to kill himself, supposing that 
the prisoners had escaped. But Paul cried out 
with a loud voice, saying, Do thyself no harm : 
for we are all here. And he called for lights, 
and sprang in, and, trembling for fear, fell 
down before Paul and Silas, and brought them 
out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? 
And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus, and 
thou shalt be saved, thou and thy house. And 
they spoke the word of the Lord unto him, with 

1 Eadie: "Paul the Preacher," 158. 

2 Farrar:"St. Paul "i. 499. 



192 LIFE OF PAUL. [A J). 52. 

all that were in his house. And he took them 
the same hour of the night, and washed their 
stripes ; and was baptized, he and all his, im- 
mediately. And he brought them up into his 
house and set food before them, and rejoiced 
greatly, with all his house, having believed in 
God." 1 

In this way the remainder of that sleepless 
night was passed. When morning dawned 
there came a message to the jailer from the 
magistrates, ordering the release of the pris- 
oners. With an overflowing heart the glad new 
convert carried the word in to Paul : " The 
magistrates have sent to let you go." But it 
was unwelcome. " Sent to let us go ?" said Paul. 
"No, no, — that is not the way in which men 
should be treated who possess the rights of 
Roman citizenship, as we do. Tell them that we 
are Eomans ; that they have publicly scourged us 
without legal condemnation or trial ; that we have 
been thrown into prison contrary to the Roman 
law. Tell them that, if they desire to escape the 
disgrace that will follow them by our appealing 
to the emperor, or to the proconsul at Thes- 
salonica, they will do well to come here them- 
selves." This reply startled the magistrates. 
They had abused the occasion, partly intention- 
ally and partly through ignorance of what these 

i Acts xvi. 27-34. 



JEt.46.] up to philippx. 193 

men were. "They were liable to an action for 
damages, or might be criminally indicted, and 
if convicted would become infamous and in- 
capable of again serving in the magistracy." 1 
Very humbly, therefore, they came down to the 
prison, apologized to the apostles, and besought 
them to go quietly out of the city. But even 
this the apostles were not ready to do. Leaving 
the prison they went back to Lydia's, and once 
more before their departure saw and spoke with 
those who had become the followers of the 
Lord Jesus. 

i Lewin, i. 221. 



CHAPTER XV. 

ON TO ATTICA. 

" The Apostle while at Thessalonica was at one and the same 
time the Christian advocate and the industrious artisan." — Lewin. 
" The mountains look on Marathon, 
And Marathon looks on the sea ; 
And musing there an hour alone, 
I dreamed that Greece might still be free." 

Byron. 

rpHESSALONICA is seen to best advantage 
-■- from the harbor. It lies upon the slope of 
a hill, the foot of which sinks into the blue 
waters at the northern extremity of the Ther- 
maic Gulf. The city is surrounded by "serried 
battlements and projecting towers," which climb 
the limestone hills on either side, and stand 
along their crest behind it in grim guardianship. 
Inside this uneven circuit of walls, on the heights 
above, stands the fortress. On the circle of the 
Gulf project the busy docks ; while between 
the fortress and the docks warehouses and resi- 
dences are huddled together picturesquely, 
though not conveniently ; among which appear 
clumps of foliage, and in some places the gray, 
194 



JEt.46.] ON TO ATTICA. 195 

hard faces of the limestone rock. "The travel- 
ler who approaches it by sea on a summer 
morning might think he was coming to one of 
those cities of enchantment which he had read 
of in Eastern romances." * 

The population of Thessalonica was composed 
in the main of two classes, manufacturers and 
mariners. The looms of Greece were at the 
head of the Thermaic Gulf. The working 
classes of the city knew how to card and spin 
and weave . Agriculture received but little atten- 
tion. The valleys of the Axius, Haliacmon, and 
the Strymon afforded pasturage for herds of 
sheep and goats, whose fleeces kept thousands 
of hands busy, and in the markets of the 
world brought ready money to the Thessalo- 
nian weavers. Manufacture involved traffic, 
and accordingly the harbor of Thessalonica was 
alive with vessels from many ports coming in 
and going out, and the streets near the wharves 
were frequented by sailors, and lined with ship- 
ping offices and warehouses. These two classes 
gave the city its character. There w T as no pre- 
dominantly wealthy aristocracy of retired mer- 
chants as at Corinth ; none of the pride of learn- 
ing which characterized Athens. The people 
were "industrious handicraftsmen," thoughtful, 
accessible, and not so much in love with the 

Davies : " St. Paul in Greece," p. 122. 



196 LIFE OF PAUL. [A.D. 52. 

present world that they could not think ear- 
nestly of a better. Besides, there were many 
Jews in Thessalonica. We found few at Phil- 
ippi ; but in this city they are at least strong 
enough to maintain a synagogue, — the syna- 
gogue, probably, for all the surrounding coun- 
try. Although the Jews were frequently the 
bitterest opponents that the apostles had to con- 
tend against, yet their religious faith was so 
far in advance of heathenism that the fact of 
there being considerable numbers of them in any 
heathen city must have been a help in intro- 
ducing the Gospel there. Some of these Jews 
were waiting for the fulfilment of the promise 
that a Messiah should come. Their preaching, 
or synagogue exhortation, was colored with the 
hope of a coming One, and had prepared the 
minds of the people to give attention to Paul 
preaching that He had come. 

Bidding farewell to those whose " fellowship 
in the Gospel " l had been of so much comfort 
in the days of affliction, Paul and Silas and 
Timothy left Philippi. Luke remained behind. 
Following still the Egnatian Road, they came, at 
the evening of the first day, over a distance of 
thirty-three miles, to Amphipolis. Tarrying only 
for necessary rest they pushed on the next day 
thirty miles farther to Apollonia ; and the day 

i Phil. i. 5. 



^T. 46.1 



ON TO ATTICA. 197 



following, after making forty good miles, they 
came in the deepening twilight to Thessalonica, 
and, inquiring the way to Jason's house, found 
a cordial welcome and a temporary home. 

These missionaries were without money ; but 
they preferred to be independent. Their first 
object, then, was to find employment by which 
to support themselves. Paul was as much at 
home among the weavers and the tent-makers 
of Thessalonica as in the company of the learned 
Areopagites of Athens. Accordingly, in all 
probability, he went to work at the trade which 
he learnt when a boy in Tarsus, and so labored, 
sitting; at ?? the creaking; and straining loom " 
during the hours of the day when he could not 
be preaching, and late into the night. He re- 
minded the Thessalonians of this in the first 
letter 1 he wrote them after his departure, as a 
proof of the ardor of his zeal for their conver- 
sion. We should remember, too, in this connec- 
tion, that those affectionate disciples in Philippi 
did not forget the man who had led them to 
Christ. With tearful eyes they had seen him 
go away sore and sick from the cruel treatment 
he had received at the hands of the Eoman mag- 
istrates ; and they were not slow to send after 
him the aid which delicacy, perhaps, would not 
permit them to urge upon him while with them. 

i 1 Thes. i. 9. 



198 LIFE OF PAUL. [A.D. 52. 

w In Thessalonica ye sent once and again unto 
my necessity." 1 

For three Sabbaths, at least, Paul preached in 
the synagogue of the Jews at Thessalonica. 
We may suppose that the place was crowded ; 
that not only Jews, but proselytes of the 
Greeks and Romans, and others who were 
curious to hear what might be said, came 
together. But Paul directed his words to the 
people of his own nation, and, using their 
scriptures, Sabbath after Sabbath, by reasoning 
and appeal, endeavored to show them that the 
Christ of the Prophets must suffer ; that he must 
rise from the dead, and that, therefore, Jesus 
whom he preached must be the Christ. The 
argument was unanswerable. " Some " of the 
Jews, "a great multitude" of the Gentiles, and 
ff not a few " of the leading women believed the 
word preached, and declared themselves on the 
side of Paul as followers of Jesus the Christ. 
But there were many Jews, who, "slow of heart 
to believe all that the Prophets had spoken," 2 
rejected the testimony of Paul. Besides, they 
were envious that he should have secured so 
large a following. Their jealousy led them to 
adopt desperate and contemptible means for 
retaliation. They had lost their hold upon the 
Greeks and the leading women, and in their 

i Phil. iv. 16. 2 Luke xxiv. 25. 



JET. 46.] OX TO ATTICA. 199 

. madness they determined to make use of the 
mob. There were plenty of lazy loafers in the 
city who lived by dirty work, whom money 
could hire to do anything. Even a Jew would 
scatter his gold to protect his fanatic faith. So 
they drew to them " the scum that gathered 
about the shallowest outmost waves of civili- 
zation,*' "roughs and scoundrels," 1 and raised a 
mob. Every idler in the city was in the crowd 
that, surging and shouting, pushed down the 
street to Jason's house, burst open the door, 
scattered the frightened servants, and swarmed 
through every court and hall and chamber, 
looking for Paul, Silas, and Timothy. But 
these men were not to be found. Jason 
himself, however, was there, and some friends 
of his who had recently become Christians. 
Xot being able to secure its prey, the mob 
seized Jason and the brethren who were with 
him, and dragged them away to the magistrates. 
The charge preferred against these citizens of 
Thessalonica by their fellow-citizens was, that 
they were guilty of complicity with certain 
seditious disturbers of the public peace, who 
had already made great disturbance in other 
places, and had come here for a similar pur- 
pose. Jason had received them into his house, 
and had invited his friends to meet them there, 

i Farrar: " St. Paul," I. 513. 



* ai 1 

km 



200 LIFE OF PAUL. [A.D. 52. 

and to listen to such revolutionary speeches 
as this : "There is another king, — one Jesus." 
What a desperate character this Jason must 
have been 5 and how dangerous these others who 
associated with him ! The magistrates, how- 
ever, do not seem to have been deeply impressed 
with these charges against Jason. They re- 
quired only that he and his friends give secur- 
ity, after which they let them go. 

That night Paul and Silas left Thessalonica. 
They had already accomplished the purpose 
they had in coming to this city. A strong 
body of believers had been gathered, and one 
of the most promising of the Apostolic churches 
had been organized. In his first letter to them, 
written within two or three months from the 
time he left the city, Paul speaks of them in 
the highest terms of commendation : " Ye were 
ensamples to all that believe in Macedonia and 
Achaia. For from you sounded out the word 
of the Lord, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, 
but also in every place your faith to Godward 
is spread abroad." 1 With joy, therefore, at 
the success of their mission, the apostles 
accepted the proposal of Jason and his friends, 
and turned their faces inland toward the town 
of Berea, situated fifty miles west of Thessalon- 
ica, on the eastern slope of that famous range 

i 1 Thes. i. 7. 



JEt. 46.] OX TO ATTICA. 201 

of mountains which is crowned by 01ynipus ; 
the home of the twelve great gods of Greece. 

It is remarkable that in this mountain-town, 
under the very shadow of the majestic sanctuary 
of Jupiter and his peers, people should be 
found eager to search the word of God. 
w These were more noble than those in Thessa- 
lonica." How delightful to the missionaries, 
after their experiences at Philippi and Thes- 
salonica, to meet here daily these true-hearted 
Bereans, who were willing to search the Scrip- 
tures to find out the truth about Jesus ! What 
wonder that many were persuaded and believed ? 
But peace did not last long. Those Jews at 
Thessalonica, who had tried without success 
to take Paul, heard of his preaching at 
Berea. Very soon their emissaries are in 
the quiet town, working secretly to prejudice 
the people against the preacher. Again the air 
is full of warning. Paul is informed. He 
must leave the peaceful companionship, the 
choice fellowship of those who love the Scrip- 
tures, and go away to a strange people. Leav- 
ing Timothy and Silas, but accompanied by 
friends from Berea, he hurries directly to the 
sea-coast, probably to the port Dium. There 
they find a ship bound to Athens. 

Farewell, Macedonia! Farewell, Olympus, 
crowned with snow and ice, home of o-ods ! 



202 LIFE OF PAUL. [A.D.46. 

Farewell, beloved fellow-disciples in Philippi 
and Thessalonica and Berea ! Farewell, ye 
who seek the poor life of this chief of sinners ! — 
who yet lives, by the grace of God, to tell of his 
Saviour's love. 



CHAPTER XVI. 

IN TEMPLED ATHEXS. 

" And trust me, while I tura'd the page, 
And track' d you still on classic ground, 
I grew in gladness till I found 
My spirits in the golden age." — Tennyson. 

" There were more statues in Athens than in all the rest of 
Greece put together." — Pausanias. 

"Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness." — Rom. 
i. 24. 

SOUTHERN Greece had two great cities, 
^ Athens and Corinth, — one, the intellectual, 
the other, the commercial centre. They were 
about fifty miles apart, separated by the Saronic 
bay. With the first of these cities Paul had 
little to do ; with the other, very much. 

If Paul left Macedonia by ship, as in all prob- 
ability he did, he must have spent three or four 
davs on the iEgean sea, skirting the eastern 
shores of Greece. The first day he would lose 
sight of Mount Olympus, pass Ossa and Pe- 
lion ; then on by the long island Euboea, and 
into the archipelago, where, turning toward 
the west, he would soon see the temple of 
Athena perched on the Simian promontory, 

203 



204 LIFE OF PAUL. [A.D. 52. 

the modern Cape Colonna. After beating 
around Cape Sunium, the Apostle was upon 
the far-famed waters of the Gulf of iEgina, 
while around him lay those shores so rich in 
classic art and story. 

In a few hours the ship had run in past 
iEgina and Salamis, and dropped her anchor 
in the harbor or made fast to the dock at Pi- 
raeus, the principal port of Athens. 

We will understand Paul all the better if we 
stop here in port Piraeus, for a brief glance at 
the province and the city which he is about to 
enter. 

In all the world there is not another spot so 
remarkable as the little province of Attica. For 
hundreds of years before Paul's time, Greece 
had held the highest position among the nations, 
and Attica had always been the throne and 
crown of Greece. If we attempt to discover 
the reasons for this extraordinary distinction, we 
may not be entirely satisfied. The country in 
itself, certainly, would not be considered favor- 
able to the development of a mighty people ; 
unless, indeed, it be granted that natural obsta- 
cles are conducive to such development. Attica 
was, as it is still, a broken ridge of limestone, 
thinly covered with a sterile soil. Mountains, 
hills, and gorges were everywhere. There were 
but few spots available for cultivation, — neither 



iET. 46.] IN TEMPLED ATHENS. 205 

forests nor vineyards nor grain-fields nor pas- 
tures. In such a barren country as this a peo- 
ple sprung up, whose vitality leaped out along 
every possible avenue of activity until it touched 
all people and all times. 1 

The children of the mountains are always 
brave and enterprising. The very barrenness of 
their country pushed the natives of Attica out 
after the spoils of other lands, while it offered 
little inducement to immigrants or migratory 
plunderers. Moreover, these people were born 
patriots. When they became rich they preferred 
still to reside in their own native hills and 
walled cities; and when, after many j^ears, the 
triremes of Greece sailed in all the navigable 
seas, and her phalanxes marched through all 
countries, and encamped around the gates of the 
most powerful cities, and her statesmen sat as 
kings on all the golden thrones, still Attica was 

1 " There is no region of the civilized world which is not breathed 
on by the air of Attica. Its influence makes itself felt in the 
thoughts, and shows itself in the speech of men ; and it will never 
cease to do so : it is not enough to say that it lives in the inspira- 
tions of the Poet, in the eloquence of the Orator, and in the specu- 
lations of the Philosopher. It exhibits itself everywhere in visible 
shapes ; it animates the most beautiful creations of Art. The works 
of the Architect and of the Sculptor, in every quarter of the globe, 
speak of Athens; even our manufactures are imprinted with her 
ornaments; the galleries of Princes and States, the temples and 
palaces, the libraries and council-rooms of capital cities pay homage 
to Athens, and will do so for ever." — Wordsworth: ''Greece," 
p. 132. 



206 LIFE OF PAUL. [A.D. 52. 

their fatherland, and they considered all their 
conquests as tributaries to her. So Attica be- 
came the world's heart. 

Standing at Piraeus with Paul, with our faces 
toward the northeast, we look away five miles 
to the capital of Attica, Athens, — 

"The Eye of Greece, mother of arts 
And eloquence." 

The most conspicuous object in the city, and 
one upon which Paul's eye must have rested, as 
he sailed up the bay, was the Acropolis. The 
flat, oblong rock which constituted the Acropo- 
lis was about three hundred feet high. On this 
height stood that superbest specimen of archi- 
tecture, the Parthenon, or the temple of the 
Virgin Goddess, Minerva, the Erechtheum, and 
the colossal Statue of Minerva, made of bronze 
by the great master, Phidias. This was seventy 
feet in height, armed with a long lance and an 
oval shield, and wearing a helmet, all of which 
flashed so brightly in the sunlight as to be visi- 
ble many miles at sea. 

A little to the west of the Acropolis stood the 
Hill of Mars, or the Areopagus. It was an 
abrupt, rugged rock, rising steeply on the south- 
ern side, and sloping gradually toward the north. 
On this hill sat the venerable and sacred Court 
of the Areopagus, whose province was to legis- 
late upon all religious questions , to confer relig- 



Ar.-tf.] IN TEMPLED ATHENS. 207 

ious honors upon heroes, and to weigh and 
decide upon the claims of the gods. Steps, 
cut in the limestone rock, provided a way of 
ascent from the Agora, or "market," 1 to the 
Areopagus. In that Agora were shops, tem- 
ples, statues, arches, porches, colonnades. It 
was the resort of the busy and the idle, phi- 
losophers and gossips. Two schools of philoso- 
phers especially — the Stoics, disciples of Zeno, 
and the Epicureans, followers of Epicurus — 
had their principal places of meeting in the 
Agora. 

Leaving now the Piraeus with Paul, we start 



<~ 



for the city at which we have been looking. 
There is a straight avenue the entire distance, 
on either side of which lie the ruins of the 
" Long "\Yalls " that formerly made this a thor- 
oughly-guarded and safe transit from the port 
to the city, or rather made it virtually an elon- 
gated extension of the city. Through this Paul 
walked to the Piraeic Gate. 

In the streets of Athens nothing would attract 
the eye of a stranger so much as the magnificent 
temples and the myriads of statues. The latter 
especially would be likely to impress a Jew 
brought up in Jerusalem, where the existence 
of a statue would have been a direct violation 
of the Law. In Athens, on the contrary, the 

i Acts xi. 17. 



208 LIFE OF PAUL. [A.D. 52. 

law required that statues of the gods should 
adorn the public squares and streets as well as 
the inner sanctuaries of the temples. There 
were more than three thousand of these beauti- 
ful marble figures, made by the best artists of 
Greece, and dedicated to gods, goddesses, demi- 
gods, and heroes. Some of the streets must 
have been galleries of statuary, finer indeed 
than any modern galleries. But all this beauty 
and artistic skill had been perverted to bad 
uses. The statues were not only dedicated to 
the gods, but they represented them. Devout 
Athenians prayed before them, made vows to 
them, and brought them gifts of gold, silver, 
flowers, and fruits. All this idolatry was de- 
basing to the people. The statues of Athens, 
beautiful though they were, were the means of 
her religious and moral degradation. 

We might well wonder, therefore, whether 
Paul, the moralist, the reformer, the man who 
was giving; his whole life to making Jesus known 
as the only One who had revealed and represent- 
ed the true God, would not turn with grief and 
pain from the lifeless statues of innocent white 
marble which the foolish Greeks worshipped as 
devoutly as he worshipped Christ. We might 
wonder, if Ave did not read that "his spirit was 
stirred within him " by the sight. Along those 
magnificent avenues lined with beautifully-fash- 



^t. 46.] TN TEMPLED ATHENS. 209 

ioned but morally ruinous deities, in and out 
among the gay and chatty men and women 
who lived in this proud city, and who spent 
much of their time in the clear and pleasant 
outdoor air, passed the sober and earnest Chris- 
tian Jew. From their heights the snowy Parthe- 
non and Erechtheum and the statue of Minerva 
looked scornfully upon him. The brave man, 
though, was not silenced by the magnificence of 
this heathenism. At once he sought a syna- 
gogue, — for there were Jews in Athens as in 
every other city. These were his countrymen. 
They would recognize him as a son of Abraham. 
To them first, therefore, he brought the word 
of salvation through Jesus the Christ. 

But Paul could do more than preach to Jews. 
There were congregations in the synagogue only 
occasionally, — probably not oftener than once 
a week. It was the custom in Athens, though, 
for those who had anything to say to the peo- 
ple to go to the Market-place, or Agora. This, 
as w r e have noticed, was the resort of the best 
classes, the most thoughtful portion of the 
population. It was the great ''exchange" for 
news and opinions. It was at the same time a 
busy, noisy market. Here were the shop- 
keepers' booths, the stands loaded with fruit 
and flowers and honey ; there the auction-block, 
where there was a slave-auction every day ; at 



210 LITE OF PAUL. [A.D. 52. 

other places, shelves spread with parchments ; 
at still others, the tables of the money-changers. 

To the men lounging and strolling in the Agora 
the philosophers were accustomed to address 
themselves, to tell their latest conclusions, and 
to display their ingenious rhetoric. People and 
philosophers " spent their time in nothing else 
but either to tell or to hear some new thing." 
Paul availed himself of the opportunity which 
the custom of. the city offered, and spoke in 
the Agora. He attracted attention. From a 
half dozen his audience grew. The shopkeep- 
ers came ; the impatient customers stopped to 
see and hear, the slaves stood up and strained 
their ears to catch the words of the distant 
speaker ; the Epicureans and the Stoics even 
condescended to approach the crowd and listen 
to the swift, eager words of the apostolic evan- 
gelist. If Paul was familiar with Athenian 
philosophy and theology, he did not care to 
display his knowledge of those subjects ; but 
preferred rather to hold himself exclusively to 
preaching Jesus and the resurrection. 

Every day Paul kept on preaching to the 
people in the Agora; No doubt the common 
people listened with great comfort to the new 
hopes he held before their imagination. How 
dreary the future must have looked to them, 
with such poverty of hope as their own relig- 



JEt. 40.] IN TEMPLED ATHENS. 211 

ion afforded ! But the philosophers, who were 
accustomed to receive the devout admiration 
of the people, could not have been pleased to 
see a foreigner receiving popular attention. 
Some of them were curious to hear a definite 
statement from him concerning the new God 
he declared, while some others were disposed to 
ridicule him as a foolish, hare-brained fanatic. 

From the Agora a flight of steps, cut in the 
rock, led up to the Areopagus. Up these Paul 
was taken, whether by invitation 1 or by force, 2 
is not altogether clear. No doubt there were some 
serious men in Athens, "\tho would welcome new 
truth if they could be certain that it was truth. 
But most of those who led or followed Paul from 
the Agora to the open court of the Areopagites 
were too deeply settled in the mud of their own 
superstitions ; their worldly interests were too 
much involved in their philosophic positions ; 
their patriotism was too closely allied to the 
worship of their gods, for them to think other- 
wise than curiously or scoffingly of a preacher 
of new and foreign doctrines. 

Paul, however, was ready to preach Christ to 
the philosophers of Athens. But what a con- 
gregation ! How different from those in wicked 
Antioch of Syria, or those in Galatia, or in 

1 Conybeare and Howson : "St. Paul," i. 374. 

2 Farrar : " St. Paul," i. 539, 



212 LIFE OF PAUL. [A.D. 52. 

Philippi, or in Berea or Thessalonica. The men 
who listened here on the Areopagus assumed to 
be judges. They would have laughed to scorn 
the man who had intimated that they needed a 
Saviour. Such a congregation will always be 
the severest test of the preacher's ability and 
heart. They did not wait for Paul to speak, 
but, inquisitor-like, put a plain and direct ques- 
tion, " May we know what this new teaching is, 
which is spoken by thee? For thou bringest 
certain foreign things to our ears ; we would 
know, therefore, what these things mean." The 
position is very significant. One lonely man, 
with a new and incredible Gospel, stands in a 
city famous for its wisdom and wealth, among 
the cleverest representatives of its most sacred 
religious faith, in the presence of its grandest 
temples and marble gods, to give a reason of 
the hope that is in him. 1 Strange, indeed, that 
those temples should become mere ruins, and 
that the whole religious fabric of Greece should 
have so entirely passed away, while the religion 
which Paul preached, at once became the con- 
trolling force in history, shaping the fortunes 
of nations and turning the world upside down. 
Paul's reply to the assembled sages of Athens 
was wise and strong, beginning with a well- 
known object that he had seen while passing 

i 1 Peter iii. 15. 



JEt. 46.] IX TEMPLED ATHENS . 215 

through the city, and leading right on to the 
theme of all his preaching :— 

"Men of Athens: Everything which I see bears 
witness to your very great zeal for religion. For as I 
passed along the street yonder and observed the ob- 
jects of your worship, I perceived one altar with this 
inscription : 4 To the Unknown God.' This One, there- 
fore, whom you worship, though you do not know Him, 
I make known to you. The God who made the world 
and all that is in it, since he is Lord of Heaven and earth, 
does not dwell in temples made with hands. Neither is 
he served by the hands of men, as though he needed any- 
thing ; for he himself gives to all men life and breath, 
and all things. He also made of one blood all the na- 
tions of mankind to dwell upon all the face of the earth, 
having determined their appointed seasons and the 
bounds of their habitation, that they should seek God, if 
possibly they might feel after Him, and find Him, though 
He is not far from each one of us ; for in Him we live, 
and move, and have our being ; as certain also of your 
own poets have said : — 

" 'For we are also His offspring.' 

" Being, then, ourselves the offspring of God, we ought 
not to think that the Godhead is like gold or silver or 
stone, shaped by the art and skill of man. The times 
of ignorance, however, God overlooked; but now He 
commands all men everywhere to repent, inasmuch as 
He has appointed a day in which He will judge the 
world in righteousness, by the Man whom He has or- 
dained, whereof He has given assurance unto all, in that 
He has raised Him from the dead." ' 

The preacher was suddenly interrupted. 
That one word, ?? resurrection " was hostile to 

1 Acts xvii. 22-31. 



216 LIFE OF PAUL. [A.D. 52. 

the worldly-hearted Athenians. They would 
not think of any other world than this. Some 
of them burst out laughing at Paul for mention- 
ing such a thing in their presence ; while others 
said, " Some other time, Stranger ; some other 
time, but not now, we will hear you again." 

That was the close of Paul's work among the 
Athenians. He left them then, having been in 
Athens probably three or four weeks. Not much 
had been accomplished — at least, to the human 
view. One of the Areopagite judges believed, 
and a woman w 7 hose name was Damaris, and also 
a few others. But the Apostle left no church 
in that city. His thoughts do not seem to have 
gone back very often to the disciples there. 
He never visited them again, nor, so far as we 
know, ever even addressed a letter to them. 



CHAPTER XVII. 

TWO YEARS AT CORINTH. 

" Not every man can go to Corinth." — Old Proverb. 

"Paul departed from Athens, and came to Corinth." — Acts 
xviii. 1. 

PT^HE next city which Paul visited played an 
-*- important part in his great life-work. On 
this first, visit to Corinth, he spent nearly two 
years there. From there the two letters to the 
Thessalonians were written at this time. Two 
letters also were sent to Corinth a few years 
afterwards, — one from Ephesus, the other from 
some point in Macedonia. Five years later we 
will find the Apostle back in Corinth again. 

Corinth was the capital city of the province of 
Achaia, w T hieh, under the Romans, included the 
whole of Southern Greece. The character of 
this city was very different from that of Athens. 
Athens was the repository of the culture of 
Greece, — the quiet home of her learning, the 
school of her philosophy, and the temple of her 
religion and of her gods. Corinth was the resi- 
dence of the Roman court, — the proconsul 

217 



218 LIFE OF PAUL. [A.D. 53. 

or governor, and his attendant legions. Here 
was the home of wealth and fashion, the mart 
of commerce, and the resort of gayety. Athens 
was aristocratic ; Corinth democratic. Athens 
was wise — at least in her own conceit ; — , 
Corinth was filled with folly. Athens was cold 
and reserved ; Corinth was social and passionate. 

At the present day the site of ancient Corinth 
is occupied by a small and insignificant village, 
composed of forty or fifty wretched hovels. 
Scarcely a vestige remains of the glory of that 
city which in Paul's day was the centre of 
beauty, brilliance, and sin of the Eoman 
province of Achaia. Seven fluted^ columns 
still stand erect, the remains of a temple that 
once adorned the city. Several miles to the east 
may be seen the remnants of the Stadium, or 
Race-course, " the shell of a theatre," and the 
rock-hewn seats of an ancient amphitheatre. 1 
These are the most significant memorials of 
Corinth's former grandeur. 

In this year, A.D. 53, Corinth was moving 
on in her career of magnificence. She had 
entirely recovered from the destruction with 
which she had been visited by the conquest. 
Her position between the two seas, with the 
port of Cenchrea inviting the traffic of the 
East, and the port of Lechaeum open to the 

i Wordsworth, " Greece," p. 447. 



.Et.47.] TWO YEARS AT CORINTH. 219 

commerce of the West, gave her great natural 
advantages. These advantages her citizens 
were not slow to use for the prosperity of the 
city. She became the most prosperous and the 
wealthiest city of Greece. Wealth blossomed 
into grand avenues and fine buildings. Corinth 
was beautiful. Corinthian architecture was the 
most finished and tasteful that the world had 
seen. The religious element, however, was not 
prominent among the Corinthians. Indeed, the 
growth of irreligion and immorality kept pace 
with the increase of riches. The very temples 
were little more to the people than club-houses, 
where vices were deified. There >vas a large 
foreign population in Corinth. 1 The city stood 
in the highway of travel. Men with money, 
and women with vanity and ambition, thronged 
the streets, and met in the luxurious palaces. 
The rich set the fashion for the poor. Sailors, 
slaves, and the so-called priestesses, with the in- 
termingling of all classes, constituted a population 
as bad, if possible, as that which rolled under 
the frowning battlements of the Syrian Antioch. 
Lucius Junius Annaeus Gallio was sent out 

i " The multitude of sailors drawn together by the two ports had 
made Corinth the last sanctuary of Venus Pandemos, — a remnant of 
the ancient Phoenician establishments. The great temple of Venus 
contained more than a thousand sacred courtesans. The entire 
city was like a vast evil resort, where numerous strangers, above 
all sailors, went to spend their fortunes foolishly."— Renan : " Life 
of Paul," p. 146. 



220 LIFE OF PAUL. [AJ>. 53. 

from Rome as proconsul of Achaia while Paul 
was at Corinth. He was a man of remarkable 
placidity of disposition, — a gentleman with all 
the dignity and cultivation that result from 
good education and choice companionship, and 
with that fine sense of justice combined with 
firmness which was so strikingly characteristic 
of the older Romans. 

When Paul arrived at Corinth he was alone, 
as he had been most of the time while at Athens. 
When he left Troas, Luke, Silas, and Timothy 
accompanied him. Luke was left behind at 
Philippi, Timothy at Thessalonica, Silas at 
Berea. Timothy, indeed, in obedience to Paul's 
urgent request sent back from Athens, had 
hastened to meet Paul there ; but his represen- 
tation of the condition of things in the church 
at Thessalonica l was such as to persuade Paul 
to deny himself the consolation of this be- 
loved brother's company, and to send him 
back to establish and comfort the little church 
he had left. 

But there were new friends for the lonely 
Apostle in this great city. There was a man 
and his wife, natives of Pontus up by the Eux- 
ine, who, being Jews, had been expelled from 
Rome by a recent edict of the emperor, and had 
sought Corinth, because it was a good place to 

i 1 Thes. iii. 1-2. 



JET. 47.] TWO YEARS AT CORINTH. 221 

carry on their business ; for they were tent- 
makers ; and because there were already a great 
many of their countrymen in this city. Paul, 
too, was a tent-maker ; and we may be sure that, 
finding himself in such a city as Corinth, and 
desiring with all his heart to recommend the 
Gospel to the people, his first aim would be to 
make himself independent by the labor of his 
own hands. He was looking for work at his 
trade, perhaps, when he fell in with Aquila, 
and found employment in his shop. Priscilla, 
too, — 

" Spinning and spinning, 
Never idle a moment, but thrifty and thoughtful of others," 

who worked at the same trade with her husband, 
welcomed the preacher-tentmaker to her home 
and table. This became one of the sacred 
places that Paul called home, like the house of 
Lydia at Philippi. It could not have been long 
after their first acquaintance with Paul before 
both of these excellent people, Aquila and Pris- 
cilla, were converted to Christ, and became 
"helpers in Christ Jesus." 1 

Six days of the week Paul worked in the shop ; 
but on the Sabbath he went with the breth- 
ren of his own nation to the synagogue, where 
Jehovah was worshipped, and where the people 
knew at least the name of Messiah. Every 

1 Rom. xvi. 3. 



222 LIFE OF PAUL. [A.D. 53. 

Sabbath, as opportunity was given, Paul spoke 
to the congregation. Unquestionably his mes- 
sage was concerning Him who had already come 
as Messiah, — Jesus. But it did not ring out 
with the accustomed apostolic clearness ; for the 
Apostle was weary and lonely and disheartened, 
on account of his experience at Athens, and by 
the absence of the brethren. Not many weeks, 
however, passed before Silas and Timothy re- 
joined Paul at Corinth ; and that was a happy 
reunion. 

Timothy had come directly from Thessalonica, 
where he had been acting as pastor of the church. 
Paul would have many questions to ask about 
the Christians there, whom he had been com- 
pelled to leave so soon after their conversion. 
It was a good report, on the whole, that Timo- 
thy had to make of the church ; though there 
were some things in it which made the Apostle 
wish that he could be back in Thessalonica for 
a few days, to gather the church around him, 
and, as they had done at Berea, search the 
Scripture together. A return to Thessalonica, 
however, at this juncture was out of the ques- 
tion. But Paul was not entirely prevented from 
warning and encouraging and instructing the 
disciples. Since he could not go to them, he 
would write them a letter. This was the occa- 
sion of his writing the First Epistle to the Thes- 



JET.47.] TWO YEARS AT CORINTH. 223 

salonians. The Second Epistle to the Thessa- 
lonians followed soon afterward. 

But these Epistles, though they have exerted 
so great an influence since Paul's day, and in 
our own time are read with so much profit, were 
only incidental to the work which he was in 
Corinth to accomplish. He was there to preach 
Christ crucified to her citizens. Encouraged 
by the presence of Timothy and Silas, and 
relieved from his daily work by a contribution 
sent for his support by the churches of Mace- 
donia 1 Paul could give himself more entirely to 
the work of preaching. Dp to this time he had 
spoken only on the Sabbath and in the syna- 
gogue. Xow he can preach wherever he finds 
listeners, and every day of the week. He also 
spoke more positively than before. Before he 
reasoned and argued. Xow he affirmed and 
declared. He no longer apologized for Jesus, 
but asserted that he was the Christ. The Jews 
bore with him while he reasoned merely. In- 
deed, they very likely enjoyed that dialectic 
exercise : but, when he opened the floodgates of 
his heart and bore testimony to what he knew 
about Jesus, and without qualification declared 
that this very same Jesus of Xazareth was the 
Messiah-king foretold by the Prophets, the 
Jews became very angry, and strenuously op- 

i 2 Cor. xi. 9. 



224 LIFE OF PAUL. [A.D. 53. 

posed him. When Paul saw that the same old 
obstinacy that had appeared in the Jews wher- 
ever he came in contact with them was strong 
and bitter in them here also, he withdrew from 
them. 

But the burning words that he had already 
spoken had kindled fires in many hearts. Jews 
and Greeks were interested and convinced. 
?? Many of the Corinthians hearing, believed, and 
were baptized." 1 Of those who believed, 
Epsenetus was the first. 2 Crispus, also, chief of 
the Jews, and Ruler of their synagogue, with his 
entire family, became Christians. This is the 
first whole family of Jews the conversion of 
which is reported. 3 There must have been a 
high excitement in Corinth, especially among 
the Jewish population, when Crispus with his 
wife and children went over to the Christian 
church. There were two other significant con- 
versions about this time, — those of Gaius and 
Stephanas. Crispus and Gaius Paul himself 
baptized, 4 contrary to his usual custom ; for 
Paul (possibly on account of some infirmity) 
rarely baptized. 5 Paul also baptized the family 
of Stephanas, and some others, whose names are 
not mentioned. There was at least one man of 

i Acts xviii. 8. 2 Rom. xvi. 5, 

3 Baumgarten, " Apostolic History," ii. : 214. 

4 1 Cor. i. 14. « ibid. i. 17. 



JBt. 47.] TWO YEARS AT CORINTH. 225 

some financial ability among those converted, 
namely Justus. His house was beside the syna- 
gogue where Paul had preached ; and, when the 
rupture occurred between Paul and the Jews, 
this was the man who opened his doors and in- 
vited the Christians to hold their public meet- 
ings in his house. It is probable that Paul con- 
tinued to preach in that house as long as he 
stayed in Corinth, while he made his home with 
Aquila and Priscilla. 

This was the beginning of a great work ; but, 
lest the servant should not appreciate the extent 
of the Master's purposes here, the Master spoke 
to the apostle one night in a vision: "Be not 
afraid, but speak, and hold not thy peace ; for I 
am with thee, and no man shall attack thee to 
harm thee, for I have much people in this city." 
So encouraged and commanded, Paul kept right 
on for a year and a half, until he had gathered 
the people and laid the foundations for a strong 
Christian church. 

It was about this time that the new proconsul, 
w the sweet Gallio," came to Corinth. The hatred 
of the Jews against the Gospel which Paul 
preached, and their envy at the steadily increas- 
ing number of its adherents, grew so strong and 
fierce that they at length determined to take 
steps towards silencing him altogether. They 
presumed upon the inexperience and good- 



226 LITE OF PAUL. [A.D. 53. 

nature of Gallio so far as to imagine that he 
would give a favorable hearing to a complaint 
preferred by so large a body of citizens as they 
were. Therefore, soon after the proconsul's 
arrival, the Jewish citizens of Corinth, led by 
Sosthenes, the Ruler of the synagogue since the 
conversion of Crispus, brought Paul before Gal- 
lio with the charge, ?? This man persuades the peo- 
ple to worship God contrary to the Law." But 
Gallio was not deceived ; for, while the Eoman 
government allowed freedom of worship to the 
Jews, it did not require its representatives to 
settle disputes among the Jews themselves. 
The proconsul, therefore, was only just in re- 
fusing to have anything to do with this accu- 
sation. 1 

Paul was about to speak in self-defence, but 
Gallio prevented him and made short work of 
the case, — "I will not be judge of such mat- 
ters ; " and so, having given the Jews the final 
word, because they persisted in clamoring in the 
court-room, he forcibly drove them out. 

1 " Gallio acted with firmness and with justice. He at once 
perceived the frivolity of the charge ; did not even call upon the 
apostle for his defence ; but stating decidedly that he was set there 
to be administrator of Roman law, and to preserve public order, 
and not to be an interpreter of Jewish laws, he contemptuously 
dismissed the charge. He has, by a singular misinterpretation of 
the sense of the whole incident, been held up as a type of an * in- 
different Christian.' What he really seems to have been was a 
just and impartial heathen." — Davies, " St. Paul in Greece," 
p. 173. 



JET.47.] TWO YEARS AT CORINTH. 227 

A crowd of sport-loving Greeks had observed 
the proceedings. These Greeks despised the 
Jew, both because he was miserly and because 
he was virtuous ; and they were always ready to 
ridicule or maltreat him. Encouraged by the 
forcible ejectment of the Jews from the judg- 
ment-seat, the Greeks crowded around Sosthe- 
nes, the leader and head of the Jewish party, 
dragged him away from his friends, and beat 
him. Gallio did not interfere. Taking into 
consideration the troublesomeness of the Jewish 
population in Eoman communities, it may not 
be too much to suppose that he w looked through 
his fingers and enjoyed the scene." 1 

All this was helpful to the Christian cause in 
Corinth. The Jews were defeated, and Paul 
found himself on the people's side. The posi- 
tiveness and boldness of his convictions won for 
him the sympathy of the Corinthians. They 
saw that he was no penurious Jew. They must 
have admired the man, even though they did 
not all believe his doctrine. ' If he had preached 
the philosophy of Epicurus, instead of forgive- 
ness of sins through Christ crucified, half of 
Corinth would have been at his feet. The 
Apostle continued a considerable time — M yet 
many days" — after the encounter with the Jews. 
It is probable that during these days Sosthenes 

i Hackett, " Commentary on Acts," xviii. 17. 



228 LIFE OF PAUL. [A.D. 54. 

became a Christian. 1 Maybe the beating he 
received for leading an accusation against Paul 
started a train of reflection that brought him to 
see his need of a Saviour. Maybe Paul went 
to him with his great heart of brotherly sympa- 
thy, and by that sweet pressure compelled him 
to be a brother with him in Christ. 

But the time came for Paul to bid farewell to 
the beloved friends he had made in Corinth. 
He turns his face once more toward Palestine, 
determined to go to Jerusalem. We see him 
taking leave of the brethren, and, accompanied 
by Aquila and Priscilla, leaving Corinth for 
Cenchrea, the port, where they find an eastern- 
bound vessel. Before embarking, however, an 
incident is mentioned that shows how Paul re- 
mained a devoted Jew after he became a thor- 
ough Christian. It had been for fifteen hundred 
years the custom for devout Jews on special 
occasions, such as recovering from severe sick- 
ness or escaping from any calamity or danger, 
to take upon themselves special vows. The 
law concerning vows may be read in the sixth 
chapter of Numbers. Abstinence for a definite 
length of time from certain luxuries of food, 

1 "As Paul was himself unable to write his own letters, and 
always employed a scribe, it is more than likely Sosthenes penned 
that Christian epistle [1 Cor.] from Ephesus to his old fellow- 
citizens of Corinth ! " — Macduff ; " Footsteps of St. Paul," p. 241. 
See also 1 Cor. i. 1. 



-Et.48.] TWO YEARS AT CORINTH. 229 

allowing the hair to go uncut for the same time, 
and offering special sacrifices at the Temple in 
Jerusalem, constituted the principal features of 
most vows. At the expiration of the period 
covered by the vow, if the person was at Jeru- 
salem, the head must be shaved and the hair 
burned upon the altar with the peace-offering. 
If, however, the person was not able to reach 
the sacred city, the hair might be cut off and 
preserved until such time as the devotee reached 
the Temple, when the ceremony should be com- 
pleted by shaving the head, burning the hair, 
and offering the vowed sacrifices. It appears 
likely, that while at Corinth, for some reason, 
Paul made a vow, the time of which expired 
while he was at Cenchrea. 

The journey to Palestine bears the marks of 
haste. The Apostle's chief object is to be at 
Jerusalem to observe the " feast." Aquila and 
Priscilla, and perhaps Timothy and Silas, 1 em- 
bark with him at Cenchrea. TTe watch their 
vessel pushing across the sunny sea among the 
beautiful islands waving with forests, and rich 
in legendaiy and mythological lore, by Patmos 
and Samos, until her anchors cleave the tide in 
the harbor of Ephesus. Only a brief stop here, 

1 "Paul, Silas, Timothy, and Titus made the whole voyage 
from Ephesus to Judea; but Aquila and Priscilla, having no call 
to Je remained at Ephesus, and continued there until 

the Apostle joined them again." — Lewin, i. 302. 



230 LIFE OF PAUL. [A.D. 54. 

until another vessel should sail to the East. 
During this short, forced visit Paul is in the 
synagogue again, speaking to the Jews. But 
they cannot persuade him to remain with them. 
For some especial reason which is not men- 
tioned, and which we cannot surmise, — unless 
it were on account of his vow, — Paul must 
keep the approaching feast at Jerusalem. "But 
I will return again unto you, if God will," was 
his parting word. He landed at Caesarea, but 
making no delay, hurried immediately up to 
Jerusalem. 

This is the fourth time Paul has been in 
Jerusalem since his conversion : Once when he 
came back from Damascus ; again, when he 
brought a contribution to the poor Christians 
from the generous souls in Antioch in Syria; 
and once when, as delegate with Barnabas and 
others, he came to attend the council in which 
the mutual relations and privileges of Jewish 
and Gentile Christians were determined. But 
Jerusalem had never a warm welcome for the 
Apostle to the Gentiles. James and his people 
did not more than half approve of his work in 
foreign countries. They were still a little fear- 
ful that the Gospel would be made too common. 
Paul "salutes the church," but there is no wel- 
come to him. He is only a foreign missionary ! 

But there was one warm-hearted city where 



JBt.48.] TWO YEARS AT CORINTH. 231 

the brethren would be very glad to see Paul. 
Straightway he went to Antioch, where, among 
those who had first heard the Gospel from his 
lips, and who had been, under his persuasion, 
brought to Christ, and who had labored and 
suffered and rejoiced with him, he spent some 
time in the peace and fellowship of the Christian 
Church, 



X 



PART FOURTH. 



CHAPTER XVm. 



EEHESUS AND APOLLOS. 



— " the first and greatest metropolis of Asia." — Inscription in 
the Temple of Diana. 

" Remember, therefore, from whence thou art fallen." — 
Rev. ii. 5. 

/"~\N the last day of December, 1869, the buried 
^-^ ruins of the great temple of Diana of the 
Ephesians were discovered. Mr. J. T. Wood 
had been employed for nearly seven years 
exploring the site of the ancient city. Step 
by step he had advanced, until, late on the 
day mentioned, a workman whom he had set 
to sink a trial-hole, laid bare the white marble 
pavement about twenty feet below the surface. 
This, one of the most interesting discoveries 
of modern times, was due entirely to the 
shrewd calculations and unfla£'£ino' deter mi- 
nation of Mr. Wood. 1 It corrected all former 
impressions of the plan of Ephesus, and of 
the location of the temple. 

The temple of Diana stood outside the city- 
walls, at a distance of about a mile and a 

l "Discoveries at Ephesus," especially p. 155. 

235 



236 LIFE OF PAUL. [A.D. 53. 

quarter from either of the two great gates, 
the Coressian and the Magnesian. The site 
was not on an elevation ; but in an open plain 
of low, flat ground, lying in the angle where 
two streams almost meet, just before they fall 
into the sluggish Cayster. Here a temple, 
probably the original one, was erected about 
B.C. 500. This building, according to Mr. 
Wood's account, 1 must have been either de- 
stroyed, removed, or enlarged, so that in B.C. 
356, a second temple stood over the same spot. 
This is the temple with which the name of 
Herostratus, "the ambitious youth who fired 
the Ephesian dome," will always be re- 
membered. After that wanton destruction, 
the Ephesians set to work eagerly to re- 
construct the shrine of their deity on a 
still grander scale. The work was rapidly 
pushed to completion. "The ladies of the 
city sold their jewelry, and neighboring cities 
sent contributions, many of the massive col- 
umns being the gift of kings." No finer model 
of Ionic architecture was ever erected. It 
was a magnificent structure. The white 
marble platform on which it stood measures 
nearly four hundred and twenty by two 
hundred and forty feet, — or exactly four 
hundred and eighteen feet, one inch, by two 

" Discoveries," p. 262-3. 



-ffir.47.] EPHESUS AND APOLLOS. 237 

hundred and thirty-nine feet, four and a half 
inches, — on each of the four sides of which, 
extending the entire length and breadth, was 
a flight of fourteen steps. One hundred Ionic 
columns, six feet in diameter, and fifty-five feet 
in height, stood in a double row of majestic 
beauty around the temple proper, and supported 
the mammoth and magnificent roof. 

The interior of the temple was very fine. 
The columns were decorated with the exquisite 
work of the finest sculptors. Rich ornamen- 
tation hung from the lofty capitals. Threads 
of gold formed delicate tracery in the white 
marble. Brilliant colors adorned the walls. 
Pavements of unrivalled design and beauty 
were spread through every corridor, hall, 
court, chamber, and open space. Paintings 
and sculpture, by the best artists, were brought 
in profusion to the walls and niches of this 
greatest temple. Jewels and treasure of al- 
most incredible value were stored in the coffers 
dedicated to the great goddess Diana. 

And what was this Diana of the Ephesians ? 
Was it something beautiful, chaste, elegant? 
If we had been admitted into the gorgeous 
temple, and passed on from one stately court 
to another, until we came to the inner sanctuary, 
which was held most sacred by the Ephesians, 
and then had been allowed to lift the rich, 



238 LIFE OF PAUL. [A.D. 53. 

embroidered, purple curtain which screened 
from vulgar gaze the strange goddess, we 
would have been almost startled by the hideous 
w ugly wooden idol." This roughly-hewn and 
disfigured block, with the head and breasts of 
a woman, was the deity of Ephesus, " which 
fell clown from Jupiter," as the people had been 
told, and as they probably believed. No one 
knows where the image came from, nor when 
it was made. Enough that it was there, the 
central object in one of the most wonderful 
fanes the sun shone on, and worshipped by 
myriads of people. 

Around the temple, enclosing a space of a 
half-mile in diameter, stretched the peribolus 
wall. It is said that Mithridates stood on a 
corner of the roof of the temple and shot an 
arrow, having declared beforehand that the spot 
where the arrow fell would mark a boundary, 
inside which should be "asylum." No mat- 
ter what crime a person had committed, in- 
side that wall, evefi the justice of the law could 
not touch him. Of course this place soon be- 
came a resort of all the worst criminals, until, 
under the very shadow of the shrine of the 
goddess, lay the densest and darkest criminal- 
ity. This became so bad that later emperors 
limited the privileges of asylum, until the peri- 
bolus wall was built by Augustus. 



.fflT.47.] EPHESUS AND APOLLOS. 239 

At the head of the harbor of Ephesus, and 
inside the city-walls, though a mile and a half 
or more from the Temple of Diana, was located 
the immense Theatre. It was excavated from 
the side of Mount Coressus, and was the largest 
structure of the kind erected by the Greeks. 
The ruins have been uncovered from their long- 
burial, and circular seats are disclosed, capable 
of seating fifty thousand spectators. This is 
the theatre referred to in Acts. 

If we could look into the life of ancient 
Ephesus, we would find it, in its general aspect, 
much like that of the other great cities we have 
already visited. The population consisted of 
Asiatics, Greeks, Romans, and Jews. It has 
already been noticed l that Ephesus was the 
western terminus of the great Roman highway 
which connected the Eastern countries of the 
empire with the capital. Her port was one of 
the busiest in the world, and the stream of 
commerce which was incessantly running through 
the city, and away across the sea to other ports, 
not only made profitable activity for many 
hands, but left in its passage the customary 
deposit of wealth. 2 

Its highest and most famous art was the pro- 
duction of shrines and images of Diana. This be- 
came an important branch of manufacture, upon 

1 P. 141. 2 Lewin, pp. 319-324. 



240 LITE OF PAUL. [A.D. 53. 

which a large number of artisans were depend- 
ent for their daily bread. Those who made 
the greatest pretensions to learning were sor- 
cerers and miracle-workers, of whom there was 
an unusually large proportion in the population 
of the vast metropolis. 

The decline of this ancient city from its for- 
mer glories and vanities to the deserted ruin 
that now lies in the plain, was due to two 
causes. The first cause, undoubtedly, was the 
building of an extensive mole at the mouth of the 
river Cayster, with the hope of improving the 
harbor. It produced the opposite result. The 
currents were so affected that the river gradu- 
ally filled up, and in Paul's time it was scarcely 
possible for vessels to reach the city at all. The 
consequent interruption of commercial traffic, 
of course, very rapidly drew away the wealth 
and population of the city. Moreover, the 
checking of the currents, and the filling of the 
river-bottom with the wash from the upper 
country, produced marshes, which in time bred 
malaria. Ephesus soon became unhealthy. 
The second cause, and the one which resulted in 
her complete overthrow was the sacking of the 
city by the Goths in A. D. 262. These Van- 
dals pillaged and burned the city, and killed or 
enslaved or put to flight the inhabitants. Ephe- 
sus has been nothing since then, although sev- 



JET. 47.] EPHESUS AND APOLLOS. 241 

eral attempts have been made to restore her 
to her position among the great cities of the 
world. Her grandeur and pride, like that of 
Corinth and Antioch and other cities of the 
Orient, is only a melancholy remembrance. 

Paul will soon be in Ephesus again ; but be- 
fore he comes we must make the acquaintance 
of another Christian teacher. Since our Apos- 
tle's brief visit to Ephesus, one has come to the 
city whose name is soon upon the lips of many. 
All the Jews have become acquainted with him ; 
for he is one of their own nationality, and he 
has spoken elpquently and clearly in their syna- 
gogue. This Jew, Apollos, had recently come 
from Alexandria, his native city, at the mouth of 
the Nile. He was a deeply religious man, and 
thoroughly devoted to the work of spreading 
the truest and highest conceptions of religious 
life that he knew. The schools of Alexandria, 
(which was one of the most famous university- 
cities of the world at that time) had given to 
Apollos, while yet a youth, an excellent educa- 
tion. At that time, too, he had heard of the 
preaching of John the Baptist, or possibly he 
may have been up to Jerusalem while John was 
preaching, and have gone out with the crowds 
that gathered by the Jordan to hear the new 
Elijah. Evidently he had been greatly moved 
by the ideas which John endeavored to impress 



242 LIFE OF PAUL. [A.D. 53 

upon his hearers, — that the people must repent, 
forsake wrong-doing, and prepare to welcome 
the Messiah, who was to come. It is twenty 
years or more since John preached the coming 
of Messiah, and during that time Jesus has 
come and preached and died, has risen from the 
grave, and ascended to heaven, and sent the 
Holy Spirit. But for some cause, of which we 
are ignorant, Apollos knew only what John had 
preached, and was ignorant of what Jesus had 
done. He came to Ephesus, therefore, preaching 
only what John had said, though he preached 
this with all the grand eloquence and earnest- 
ness of which he was capable. 

We have seen already that two disciples of the 
Lord, Priscilla and her husband, Aquila, who 
were familiar with the full Gospel story, having 
been associated with Paul for two or three years 
at Corinth, came to Ephesus with Paul on his 
last eastward journey, and remained in that city. 
This devoted couple heard Apollos with great 
pleasure. They were enchanted by his fervid 
zeal and brilliant oratory. At the same time 
they felt that there was a great lack in his preach- 
ing. He urged repentance and good works, which 
was excellent, so far as it went ; but it could not 
do the Jews at Ephesus, nor any other people, 
much good to be told of their sins, unless they 
were also told of a Saviour from sin. Such a per- 



Mt. 47.] EPHESUS AND APOLLOS. 243 

son as a real Saviour they had never thought of. 
Priscilla and Aquila, though, knew that the Jesus 
whom the Jews had crucified was the very Sa- 
viour they all needed. So, earnestly desiring to 
show Apollos a more excellent way, not only for 
his own sake, but also for the sake of those who 
were attracted by his words, and seeing that he 
was of such a spirit as to receive what they 
might say to him, and to give it due consideration, 
this devoted Christian wife and husband took 
Apollos to their home, and explained to him the 
word of God in the light of the Gospel of Christ. 
There is no doubt but that Apollos, became, in 
the true sense, a believer in Christ. It was 
perhaps right there in the humble lodgings of 
Aquila and Priscilla, where their work of goats' 
hair and tent-cloth lay about on the floor, that 
the "eloquent" 1 Apollos, mighty in the Scrip- 
tures ; the preacher of repentance and right- 
eousness, found out Him who was mighty and 
ready to save all who would put their trust in 
Him. 

Soon after this conference with Priscilla and 
Aquila, Apollos decided to go across to Greece, 
especially to Corinth in Achaia; and that he 
might be at once received by the Christians 
there, those in Ephesus who had learned to 
admire him so much, and who had such entire 

i Acts 18 : 24 



244 LIFE OF PAUL. [A.D. 53. 

confidence both in his ability and good spirit, 
gave him letters of introduction to the church at 
Corinth. Arriving in that city, from which 
some months before Paul had departed, Apollos 
at once gave himself to the work of encouraging 
and teaching the disciples who had been left 
without an apostle to lead them. His preaching 
was with great power. The Jews especially 
were borne down by its persuasion. He "might- 
ily convinced" them, by interpreting the very 
Scriptures which they heard every day in their 
synagogues, and showing that Jesus of Nazareth 
was the Messiah whom the Prophets foretold. 

We know little more of Apollos than this. 
From 1 Cor. iii. 4-6, it seems that he must have 
remained in Corinth long enough, at least, to 
attach many of the Corinthian Christians to him. 
There was a Paul party and an Apollos party in 
the church there. That Apollos subsequently 
left Corinth, is evident from the last chapter of 
the same epistle in which Paul, writing from 
Ephesus, tells the Corinthians that Apollos will 
come to them, "when he shall have convenient 
time." 1 His name is mentioned once more in 
Titus iii. 13, and that is all. What part he 
took in the establishing and developing of the 
early Christian churches can probably never be 
known. 

i 1 Cor. xvi. 12. 



CHAPTER XIX. 

EPHESUS AND PAUL. 

" Paul having passed through the upper coasts, came to Ephe- 
sus." — Acts xix. 1. 

"Now by St. Paul the work goes bravely on." — Colley 

ClBBER. 



W 



E left Paul at Antioch, resting, after the 
severe strain of his last missionarj^ jour- 
ney, with the beloved friends whom in former 
years he had brought to Christ. He spent 
" some time " in this city, until his physical 
energies having been restored, the old consum- 
ing zeal for the Master's glory would permit him 
to remain no longer. He directed his steps again 
towards the west. It is the last time that the 
disciples at Antioch will see him. He never re- 
turns again after this to the scene of his early 
and wonderfully successful labors. 

Whether Paul was alone or not when he left 
Antioch, we can only conjecture. Farrar says 
that he was " cheered in all probability by the 
companionship of Timothy and Titus, and perhaps 
alsoof Gaius, Aristarchus, and Erastus." * How- 

1 "St. Paul" ii. 6. 

245 



246 LIFE OF PAUL. [A.D. 54. 

son thinks that Titus may have travelled with 
Paul and Timothy through the earlier part of the 
journey. 1 Lewin affirms that Paul " took Titus 
with him, but by whom else he was accompanied 
we have no data upon which to form even a con- 
jecture." 2 And Eenan agrees with this. "He 
set out from Antioch, probably accompanied by 
Titus." 3 

The journey took the Apostle through his 
native city, Tarsus, across the familiar Taurus 
by the Cilician Gates, descending from which 
he may have visited Derbe and Lystra and 
Iconium. We know that he went into Galatia 
and Phrygia to revisit the churches which were 
formed there three years ago, and which, left 
without a leader, had not kept themselves 
entirely free from heresy of doctrine and im- 
morality of conduct. The visit was made 
rapidly, however; for Paul was eager at 
last to be among the seething population of 
Ephesus. 

It was a long and wearisome journey that, 
all the way from the Orontes across the entire 
length of Asia Minor, six hundred miles or 
more. But Paul was a brave man, who thought 
not of weariness when there was good work to 
be done. He has come to the last stage. The 
road has left the high and bleak table-lands, and 

i " St. Paul," II. 11. 2 !. 3io. 3 « st. Paul," 204. 



iET. 48.] 



EPHESUS AND PAUL. 247 



runs down the valley of the Lycus, past Co- 
lossi and Hierapolis and Laodicea, where Chris- 
tian churches already exist, or are soon formed, 
along through the fertile meadows watered by 
the Mseander, until it reaches Magnesia, where 
it turns toward the northwest, skirts Mount 
Prion, which it passes on the eastern spur, and 
brings the traveller out into full view of the 
capital of Asia Minor, with its towering gates 
and battlemented walls. A mile and more to 
the north, gleams, like a star in the sunshine, 
the white marble Temple of Diana. Down 
there, in front of the city, beyond its avenues 
and residences, beyond the great Stadium, and 
the fifty thousand rock-hewn seats of the Thea- 
tre, lies the artificial harbor, in which, a mile 
away from the sea, are huddled the masts of 
ships from every port of the Mediterranean. 

The first incident mentioned in connection 
with Paul's eventful stay of three years in 
Ephesus was his meeting with a dozen men who 
seem to have occupied precisely the same posi- 
tion in regard to John and Jesus that Apollos 
had ; that is, they accepted John's teaching, and 
expected that Messiah was soon to come. It is 
possible, indeed, that they may have taken a 
step farther than this, and hoped that Jesus, 
about whom, perhaps, they had heard in gene- 
ral terms, was to come again, then to appear 



248 LIFE OF PAUL. [A.D. 55. 

as Messiah. Certainly they knew only John's 
baptism ; and, as for the promise of the Holy 
Spirit, they admitted that they had never so 
much as heard that there was such a person. 
These men Paul instructed, and they were bap- 
tized in the name of the Lord Jesus, and received 
the Holy Ghost, through whom was given to 
them the gifts of tongues and prophecy. 1 

It is altogether likely that Paul lived in about 
the same manner in Ephesus as he had lived in 
Corinth. Aquila and Priscilla were here ; and 
it is only fair to suppose that he made his home 
with them again, and that he worked 2 part of 
the time, at least, making tents. On the Sab- 
bath he went with the faithful Israelites to the 
synagogue, and addressed the congregation. He 
was bold here, as he always was, and patient 
too ; for he had confidence that the seed he was 
sowing would in due time bring forth fruit. 
For three months, accordingly, he pursued this 
method, in order that the field might be as wide 
and as fertile as possible among the people of 

1 " And thus those twelve men, who came forward so abruptly in 
our history, disappear as suddenly, leaving us in doubt whence 
they came, where they had been, and, in some respects, what particu- 
lar phase of religious belief they represented. The episode is one 
of strange interest from the very fact of its suggesting so many 
questions, the solution of which our imperfect knowledge of the 
first Christian age has put beyond our reach." — Hackett : " Com- 
mentary on Acts," xix. 7. 

2 1 Cor. iv. 11, 12; Acts xx. 34. 



MT.4&.] EPHESUS AND PAUL. 249 

his own nation ; for he loved his own, — that pe- 
culiar people, to whom had been entrusted the 
word of God, and from whom, according to the 
flesh, Christ sprung. Moreover, they had urged 
him, on his former visit, to remain among them. 
With f? onset of argument " and persuasion kind 
he plied his listeners Sabbath after Sabbath. 
But the result was as usual. Many of them were 
only the more obdurate and stubborn against 
the claims of the Gospel the more they heard 
of it. Pride filled their hearts, — the pride of 
aristocratic exclusiveness, — and left no place 
for faith in the Friend of sinners. They broke 
out against Paul, and publicly, before the con- 
gregation, derided and ridiculed the wav of 
salvation which he preached. 

Further progress in that direction being im- 
practicable, the Apostle turned aside from the 
Jews, forsook the synagogue, carrying with 
him all who believed in the Lord Jesus, and, 
having secured the lecture-room of Tvrannus,— 
a philosopher, probably, who, having been con- 
verted, had no other use for the place where his 
former pupils met, — spoke there every day to 
the people. Here Paul's work continued two 
years* — only a brief pastorate, but productive 
of great results. 

During these years, what a faithful pastor he 
was ! With what earnestness did he preach in 



250 LIFE OF PAUL. [A.D. 55. 

public, and go '* from house to house " l teach- 
ing the way of salvation ! His " tears " 2 tell of 
the tenderness of his heart, and his longing for 
the conversion of the Ephesians to Christ. He 
left no means untried. With large and confi- 
dent hope he worked on, feeling sure that his 
labor would not be in vain in the Lord. And 
in due time the Lord prospered the work. Nor 
is it probable that Paul confined himself to the 
city. There were other smaller cities, not far 
away, and the surrounding country teeming 
with people. All the province rang with the 
words of the messenger of the Gospel, until 
every ear had heard the glad news. 

One remarkable incident occurred some time 
during these two years, which resulted in help- 
ing forward the cause of the Gospel at the ex- 
pense of its enemies. The Ephesians believed 
in and practised the arts of magic. No city in 
the world had so many magicians in it as 
Ephesus. Astrology, sorcery, charms, exor- 
cism, and the black art constituted one of the 
liberal professions, — practised, not by wander- 
ing gypsies merely, but by men and women of all 
classes, from the lowest to the highest. Now 
God gave Paul special power at Ephesus to per- 
form miracles ; and he did not hesitate to use 
the power given him. The sick were cured, 

i Acts xx. 20. 2 ibid. 31. 



^T. 49.] BPHESUS AXD PAUL. 251 

and evil spirits were cast out. Even the hand- 
kerchief he carried and the apron he wore when 
at work were made the means of carrying super- 
natural efficacy and healing to those who were 
at a distance. We might think that the im- 
mediate result of such manifestation of power 
would have been the convincing of all observers ; 
but it was quite different. The people, accus- 
tomed to magical performances, were ready at 
once to attribute these miraculous acts also to 
magic. Besides, some strolling Jews, who them- 
selves had professed to be able to cure those 
who were possessed with evil spirits, or who 
were insane, seeing that Paul really accom- 
plished, by using the name of Jesus, what they 
only pretended to do, undertook themselves to 
use the same formula, — "We adjure you by 
Jesus, whom Paul preacheth." 

There was a Jewish chief priest, an old man, 
whose name was Sceva. This man had seven 
sons, who had deserted the religion of their 
father, and the holy city of Jerusalem, and 
were wandering about the world together, mak- 
ing a living by magic and exorcism. These 
fellows agreed together to make use of the holy 
name of our Lord, as Paul had done, to drive 
an evil spirit out of a certain man. But the man 
only screamed wildly at them, "Jesus I know, 
and Paul I know; but who are you?" Then, 



252 LIFE OF PAUL. [A.D. 55. 

before they could get away, he leaped upon 
them, and, with the ferocity of a madman, tore 
off their clothing and struck right and left, so 
that when they did escape they were "naked 
and wounded." Such a scene could not be 
kept a secret in Ephesus. Everybody, Jews 
and Greeks alike, knew and talked about it. 

It would have been ludicrous if it had not been 
very serious. But it was serious, indeed. God, 
the Almighty, had come into Ephesus, and had 
allowed himself to be called by the name of 
Jesus. This was what they thought. Fear 
settled down upon them. They did not dare 
any longer to meddle with the mummeries and 
arts of magic. Many of these magicians made 
open confession of the ways in which they had 
deceived the people, and brought together costly 
books, in which were the secrets of their wicked 
trade, and made a bonfire of them in an open 
square. It is an indication of the depth of the 
current of feeling which was running among the 
Ephesian magicians that these men were willing 
to sacrifice so much that was of real value ; 
for the books they burned might have been sold 
for "fifty thousand pieces of silver," or more 
than ten thousand dollars. A mighty revival 
followed. So does God make the wrath of man 
to praise him. 

There were at Ephesus at this time a large 



JET. 49.] EPHESUS AND PAUL. 253 

number of leading Christian men, whose names 
have come down to us. Paul was the leader 
and inspiration of them all. With him we 
may associate Timothy, Titus, Aquila and his 
wife; Apollos, Gaius, and Aristarchus, Sos- 
thenes "our brother," 1 who was whipped by 
the Jews in Corinth, Trophimus, "an Ephe- 
sian," 2 and Tychicus and Erastus. In the 
neighboring city of Colossse were Epaphroditus, 
Archippus, Nymph as, Philemon, and Onesi- 
mus. These, with the many faithful helpers 
whose names are known only in heaven, consti- 
tuted a strong' force for the evangelizing: of the 
city and neighboring country. The work spread 
rapidly. Paul himself, during the three years at 
Ephesus, must have visited the cities that were 
within easy reach of the capital, and preached 
to the people the Gospel concerning Jesus. 
Very soon a belt of Christian fortresses lay 
around Ephesus. Six of these are mentioned 
in the second and third chapters of Kevelation, 
— Smyrna, Pergamos, Thyatira, Sardis, Phila- 
delphia, and Laodicea. 

Laodicea was one of three cities — Laodicea, 
Hierapolis, and Colossae — which were situated 
on the banks of the Lycus, a tributary of the 
Maeander. These three cities were within a 
circuit of twelve miles of each other, and about 

i 1 Cor. LI. 2 Acts xxi. 29. 



254 LIFE OF PAUL. [A.D. 56. 

a hundred and fifty miles east of Ephesus. 
"Laodicea and Hierapolis stand face to face, 
being situated respectively on the southern and 
northern sides of the valley, at a distance of 
six miles, and within sight of each other, the 
river lying in the open plain between the two. 
The city of Colossae is somewhat higher up the 
stream, at a distance of perhaps ten or twelve 
miles from the point where the road from Lao- 
dicea and Hierapolis crosses the Lycus. . . . 
The three cities lie so near to each other that 
it would be quite possible to visit them all in the 
course of a single day." l Paul, probably, passed 
through these cities on his last journey west- 
ward. He may have visited them again during 
his stay in Ephesus. If not, he had sent others 
there to preach. He was so closely attached to 
the Colossian Christians that he wrote them a 
letter several years afterward from his prison in 
Some, in which he refers also to Laodicea and 
Hierapolis. 2 

It is possible, also, — though the information 
is so scant that we cannot be certain about it, — 
that at some time while at Ephesus the Apostle 
made a hurried trip to Corinth. We are at 
least sure that he wrote a letter to the Christians 

1 Lightfoot : " The Churches of the Lycus." Intro, to Com- 
mentary on Colossians. 

2 Colossians iv. 13. 



^Et. 50.] EPHESUS AND PAUL. 255 

in that city, — The First Epistle to the Corinth- 
ians, — which was forwarded by the hand of Titus. 
It was some time after this, that, having in mind 
to go very soon himself through Macedonia and 
Greece, and then back to Jerusalem, he sent in 
advance two of his best workers north across the 
iEgean sea to Thessalonica, Berea, and Philippi. 
These were Timothy and Erastus. Paul may 
have received some message from Macedonia 
that convinced him that there was need of the 
immediate presence of some one who was able 
to counsel and direct the churches, or he may 
have had some special message of his own which 
he desired to communicate. He was not quite 
ready to leave Ephesus himself. "A great door 
and effectual" had been opened in that city, and 
he work was not yet completed. His purpose, 
however, was to get away soon after Pentecost. 1 
From this date, it is natural to presume, that 
the last weeks of Paul's stay in Ephesus were 
those preceding Pentecost. It was probably in 
the month of May. Eleven years ago in May 
we were with Paul and Barnabas as they hurried 
away from the low plains of Pamphylia to the 
Pisidian mountains. We are with him now in 
the heated city. He has seen strange experi- 
ences in eleven years. He has had much to en- 
dure, as well as much to encourage him. 

1 1 Cor. xvi. 9. 



256 LIFE OF PAUL. [A.D. 56. 

The whole of May was dedicated by a special 
decree to the Ephesian Diana, and the month 
was called on that account Artemision, or the 
month of Diana. " It is enacted, that the 
whole month Artemision in all the days of it 
shall be holy, and that throughout the month 
there shall be a continued celebration of feasts 
and the Artemisian festival and the hieromenia, 
seeing that the entire month is sacred to the 
goddess." So ran the decree. It was a festive 
moon that hung over Ephesus in May. The 
balmy days and the soft, still nights of the 
Levantine spring were given up to indulgence 
in every sort of festivity, frivolity, and sin. 
Sports and games, processions and races and 
theatrical performances, drinking and dancing, 
and revelry and debauch made the city gay 
and wicked. Ten men, elected annually, 
called Asiarchs, "Chiefs of Asia," 1 had charge 
of these festivities, and were responsible for 
the entire expense ; so that all the enter- 
tainments and amusements were public and 
free. People flocked to the capital in Arte- 
mision from all parts of the province. Fairs 
were open, and trade was brisk. There was 
one branch of trade that was particularly 
profitable while this festival was running ; 
namely, the sale of images of Diana and of 
the temple. 

1 Acts xix. 31. 



JET. 51.] EPHESUS AND PAUL. 257 

The thousands of visitors to the city from 
distant rural districts, and other cities and 
towns, were accustomed to purchasing these 
images as sacred mementos and souvenirs of 
the festival. But this year, A. D. 57, pur- 
chases had fallen far below what they usually 
had been. Three years of preaching the Gos- 
pel had produced positive results. The people 
at large had begun to see the folly of worship- 
ping the ugly image that fell down from Jupiter. 
There was a popular movement away from 
Diana, and there was "no small stir" about 
Christianity. It is always an encouraging in- 
dication when religion affects business. Paul 
had the privilege of observing an effect of this 
kind from his teaching. 

The silversmiths and coppersmiths of Ephe- 
sus were the ones who suffered. They had on 
hand a large stock of silver and copper rep- 
resentations of Diana and of the great temple, 
for which they had expected to find a market 
during Artemision. When, however, the 
month was drawing to a close, and the people 
were scattering, — while the traders' shelves 
were still loaded with wares for which they 
were likely to find no purchasers, — there was 
no little fault-finding over the changed state 
of affairs. And Paul — that Jew who was in- 
cessantly talking about Christ, and telling the 



258 LIFE OF PAUL. [A.D. 57. 

people that they were no gods which were 
made by men's hands — was the object upon 
whom all the muttered vexation centred. 

At length Demetrius, a silver-manufacturer, 
who employed a large number of workmen, 
called a public meeting — ?f a trades-union 
meeting" 1 — of silversmiths and apprentices, 
his own workmen and others, ■ and addressed 
them : — 

M Gentlemen : You know very well that our 
income is dependent upon this business. You 
see and hear, too, how, not only in Ephesus, 
but almost throughout all Asia, this Paul has 
persuaded and turned away a great many 
people, saying that they are no gods which are 
made with hands. Now, not only is there 
danger that this trade of ours may fall into 
disrepute, but also that the very temple of the 
great goddess Diana may be ignored, and that 
even she herself shall be deposed from her mag- 
nificence, whom all Asia, ay, the whole world, 
worships." 2 

This outspoken word was enough. The men 
cheered Demetrius to the echo ; and, with one 
unanimous shout, " Great is Diana of the Ephe- 
sians ! " the meeting broke up. The crowd 
surged through the street. There was the 
utmost confusion, no plan or concert of ac- 

i Farrar : " St. Paul," n. 36. 2 Acts xix. 25-27. 



iEr.51.] EPHESUS AND PAUL. 259 

tion having been determined upon. Two of 
Paul's companions, Christians, were unfortunate 
enough to be upon the street, and to fall in with 
the mob as it rushed on pell-mell toward the 
theatre. The crowd at once seized and carried 
these two men along with it, — very likely 
with the wild intention of adding to the Arte- 
misian festival a scene that would outrival all 
the rest, and would show to the people of Ephesus 
the color of Christian blood. Paul was soon 
informed of the disturbance, and of the danger 
in which his two friends stood. It was like the 
brave Christian that he was, to hasten to their 
rescue, or at least to lay down his life in the 
attempt : but other, if not wiser, counsels pre- 
vailed. The disciples who were about him, and 
who knew better, perhaps, than he himself did, 
the value of his life, would not permit him to 
go into that angry crowd. Some of the Asi- 
archs, too, — those rich men who provided for 
the expenses of the festival, — " being his 
friends," sent an urgent message to him not to 
encounter any such risk. 

Meantime, the mob that swarmed through the 
fifty thousand sittings of the vast theatre were 
shouting in confusion. Most of the people did 
not know what they were there for, nor what was 
to be done. One side rang with one thing, the 
other echoed something else. There were Jews 



260 LIFE OF PAUL. * [A.D. 57. 

in the crowd ; and they, having found out what 
was the cause of the disturbance, and fearing 
that they might be identified with the Christians, 
— for Paul the Christian was a Jew, — pushed 
forward a coppersmith of their own nationality, T 
one Alexander, to speak for them. This man 
had scarcely stretched out his hand to invite the 
attention of the assembly, when, turning their 
eyes upon him, they saw the unmistakable 
Jewish features. No Jew should be heard 
that day. They drowned his foreign accent in 
their popular cry, " Great is Diana of the Ephe- 
sians ! Great is Diana of the Ephesians ! " 

They kept up this monotonous and wild 
shouting for about two hours, until the City 
Eecorder, " the legitimate president of the as- 
sembly, and, as such, entitled to respectful atten- 
tion," 2 poured oil upon the troubled waters in 
a very adroit and unanswerable speech, in which 
he assured them that the dignity and magnifi- 
cence of their goddess were above the possibil- 
ity of reproach, and, moreover, that they had 
dragged up two men, Gaius and Aristarchus, 
who were not guilty of any sacrilege against 
Diana. Then he turned upon Demetrius, the 
instigator of the movement, and reminded him 
that if he or his friends had any grievances, 

i Farrar, " St. Paul," I. 40; Lewin, " St. Paul," I. 410. 
2 Lewin, i. 411. 



^t.51.] EPHESUS AND PAUL. 261 

they must settle them in the courts, and not by 
a mob. Finally, he declared that the concourse 
was a violation of the law, for which they might 
be called to account. 

The assembly broke up, and in a short time 
the theatre was empty. The tumult accom- 
plished nothing at all. The tide of truth con- 
tinued to rise. Ephesus became one of the 
most influential centres of Christianity in the 
world. 

But Paul's work there was finished. Once 
more he gathered the disciples about him, — 
probably in the school of Tyrannus, the hall 
where they had been accustomed to meet for 
nearly three years, — exhorted them to stand 
firm in the faith they had accepted, and then 
bade them farewell. 



CHAPTER XX. 

A FLYING JOURNEY. 

" The care of all the churches." — 2 Cor. xi. 28. 

" So day by day and week by week, 
In sad and weary thought, 
They muse, whom God hath set to seek 

The souls His Christ hath bought." — Keble. 

"IHTTHEN Paul left Ephesus he had a definite 
* * purpose, namely, to visit the churches 
already organized in Macedonia and Greece. 
He had at least two specific objects in making 
such a visit. One of these objects was to in- 
struct and direct the Christians in those churches, 
for some of them were very ignorant of the 
obligations and privileges of the Christian life. 
He also felt it necessary to correct certain 
abuses that had arisen, and to institute a healthy 
course of discipline for persistent and impeni- 
tent wrong-doers. A second object was to take 
a collection from these Gentile churches to aid 
the poor Christians of Judea. He may also 
have had in mind, as a third object, to select 
from the various churches certain representative 
disciples, who should accompany him to Jerusa- 
262 



Me. 51^ A FLYING JOURNEY. 263 

lem, for the purpose of showing to the aristo- 
cratic Christians of Judea that the grace of God 
had really reached to the Gentiles. 1 

From Luke's account, and from letters Paul 
wrote while on this circuit, we obtain the follow- 
ing outline : — 

"Paul departed [from Ephesus] to go into 
Macedonia . ' ' 2 f f When I came to Troas to preach 
Christ's Gospel, and a door was opened unto me 
of the Lord, I had no rest in my spirit, because 
I found not Titus, my brother, but, taking my 
leave of them, I went from thence into Mace- 
donia." 3 "When we were come into Macedo- 
nia . . . God . . . comforted us by the coming 
of Titus." 4 "When he had gone over those 
parts" . . . "round about unto Ulyricum I have 
fully preached the Gospel " 5 . . . "he came into 
Greece, and there abode three months." 6 

Troas was about one hundred and fifty miles 
north of Ephesus. Thither Paul directed his 
steps, expecting soon to meet at that point Titus, 
who, a few weeks before, had been despatched 
to Corinth with instruction to join the apostolic 
company at Troas. Paul had been in this city 
five years before, but not to stay, however ; for a 
vision of a man from Macedonia had called him 

1 Baumgarten, " Apostolic History," n. 316. 

2 Acts xx. 1. § Rom. xv. 19. 

3 2 Cor. "ii. 12. 6 Acts xx. 3. 
* 2 Cor. vii. 6. 



264 LIFE OF PAUL. [A.D. 57. 

immediately across the iEgean. But, Titus does 
not come, and Paul is anxious to hear how matters 
are going in the church at Corinth. Hoping to 
meet the messenger sooner, therefore, he passes 
over to Neapolis and up to Philippi. Here he 
finds Luke, who was left at Philippi several years 
before ; and here, also, Titus comes with a 
message from Corinth. This news was, on the 
whole, good; though there were some of the 
members of the church in Corinth who would 
not submit to the Christian rule. Paul wrote 
another letter, — the Second Epistle to the Cor- 
inthians ; and Titus, accompanied by two others, 
and bearing this letter, hurried away again to 
Corinth. 

For several months Paul remains in Macedo- 
nia, — at Philippi with his " &es£-loved church," 
at Thessalonica among the Christian spinners 
and weavers, at Berea with disciples who 
" searched the scriptures daily," and far away 
to the northwestern boundary of the province, 
preaching the Gospel, gathering new churches, 
and increasing the collection for Jerusalem. 

It was in the earty winter when he went south 
to Corinth. He had with him Timothy, his 
long-time companion, Tychicus and Trophimus 
of Ephesus, Sopater of Berea, Gaius of Derbe, 
Aristarchus and Secundus of Thessalonica. 
" All these formed a sort of apostolic caravan 



-fflT.51.] A FLYING JOURNEY. 265 

of a very imposing aspect." 1 Titus and the 
two other brethren were already at Corinth. 
Paul was the guest of Gaius, 2 on this visit, as he 
had been the guest of Aquila on the former. 

For three months now the Apostle is very 
busy in Corinth. The church had not made the 
progress during four years that it ought to have 
made. Soon after Paul's departure it had fallen 
into divisions, — Apollosites, Cephasites, Paul- 
ites, — after which, questions about the genuine- 
ness of the Christian faith were thrust in among 
them by envious Jews : then came conformity 
of life to the heathen, and wdth this, gross im- 
morality. In addition to the care and disci- 
pline and edification of the Corinthian church, 
Paul suffered an additional trial by the news that 
came from Galatia, that the Christians there 
also had grown careless in the absence of the 
pastor who first led them to Christ. This news 
was the occasion of his writing the Epistle to 
the GaJatians. About the same time, while the 
Apostle is still at Corinth, the Epistle to the 
Romans was written, and sent to Rome by 
Phoebe, a Christian woman, who resided at Cen- 
chrea, about seven miles from Corinth, and who 
was £oino; to Rome to attend to some business 
matters of her own. 3 

i Eenan: " St. Paul," 272. 

2 Rom. xvi. 23. 8 R om . xv i. 2. 



266 LIFE OF PAUL. [A.D. 58. 

After this, Paul decided to return once more 
to Jerusalem. He wanted to celebrate the 
Feast of Pentecost that year in the courts of the 
Temple in the city of his boyhood's dreams. It 
was part of his plan, evidently, to go directly by 
sea, sailing from Cenchrea. But those old en- 
emies, the Jews, who on his former visit had 
failed so entirely to drive him out of Corinth, 
laid a secret plot to assassinate him on the road, 
and at the same time to rob the messengers of 
the churches who accompanied him with the col- 
lection. But Paul was informed of their inten- 
tion, and with his accustomed rapidity of move- 
ment changed his plans, sending Timothy and 
some of the rest off by sea to Troas ; while he 
himself, with some others, made the journey 
overland to Philippi, which was reached just 
before the Passover. 

From this point and date we are able to trace 
the Apostle through the days of the month and 
of the week, until his arrival in Jerusalem at 
Pentecost. 1 



March 27, 


Monday, 


Passover at Philippi commenced. 


April 3, 


(6 


Passover at Philippi closed. 


« 4, 


Tuesday, 


Paul went to Neapolis. 


" 8, 


Saturday, 


Arrived at Troas. 


" 16, 


Sabbath, 


Preached at Troas. 


" 17, 


Monday, 


Walked to Assos, and sailed that 
evening to Mitylene. 




i See Lewin 


: " St. Paul," II. chap, ii. 



^t. 52.] A FLYING JOURNEY. 267 

April 



May 



18, 


Tuesday, 


Left Mitylene. 


19, 


Wednesday, 


Arrived at Samos. 


20, 


Thursday (afternoon), Keached Miletus, and 






sent messengers to Ephesus. 


23, 


Sunday, 


Delegation came from Ephesus. 


24, 


Monday, 


Sailed from Miletus. 


25, 


Tuesday, 


At Rhodes. 


26, 


Wednesday, 


At Patara. 


27, 


Thursday, 


Passed Cyprus. 


30, 


Sunday, 


Reached Tyre, and remained one 

week. 


8, 


Monday, 


Sailed to Ptolemais. 


10, 


Wednesday, 


Came overland to Caesarea. 


15, 


Monday, 


Started on the journey up to Jeru- 
salem. 


17, 


Wednesday, 


Arrived at Jerusalem in time for 
the Pentecost at 6 p.m. 



This is an outline of the rapidest journey 
Paul ever made. The delays before he reached 
Palestine were, apparently, only such as were 
necessary. At Philippi he stopped, as any de- 
vout Jew would be likely to have done, during 
the Passover. Between Philippi and Troas the 
passage must have been lengthened by heavy 
weather and head-winds. At Troas we may 
presume that they were waiting for a vessel 
bound East. The week there, however, was 
not spent without earnest preaching and good 
results. 

On the last Sabbath at Troas, in the evening, 
the whole church came together to listen to Paul, 
who was to preach to them for the last time, and 



&} 



268 LIFE OF PAUL. [A.D. 58. 

to administer the Lord's supper. They were as- 
sembled in a room in the third st£ry . Although 
the night was dark outside, the place where this 
meeting was held was well-lighted with lamps. 
Paul preached a very long sermon that evening. 
The streets of Troas had become perfectly still. 
The lights in the houses were out long ago ; but 
still Paul kept on an unbroken stream of intense 
speech until midnight, and the people listened 
with unflagging attention. There was a lad, 
however, who, not being able to find a seat in 
the crowded room anywhere else, sat on the sill 
of the open window. He could not listen so 
long ; but got very sleepy. His eyes would close ; 
his head nodded. No one seems to have noticed 
him, until, falling fast asleep, he leaned over so 
? ar that he lost his balance, and with a scream of 
terror tumbled out of the window to the ground 
below. The people rushed down the stairs, and 
the poor boy Eutychus, — for that was his name, 
— was picked up dead. Paul came down with 
the rest. There was great lamentation ; but Paul 
had power given him, as he had to heal the sick 
in Ephesus, and to cure Publius, also to bring 
this boy to life again. After quieting the peo- 
ple with a comforting word, — " Weep not, for 
he is alive," — Paul went up again to the upper 
room, and the meeting, so suddenly interrupted, 
was resumed. The Lord's supper was observed, 



Mr. 52.] A FLYING JOURNEY. 269 

after which they continued to talk together 
until dawn. Then Paul left them and started 
across the country alone, nineteen miles to 
Assos, where he was to meet his companions 
who had already sailed for the same point around 
the Cape. Their good ship sailed away south 
from Assos as the sun set Monday evening ; and 
in the afternoon of Thursday, having touched at 




Mytilene on Lesbos, and at Chios, and crossed 
the harbor of Ephesus, so close to the city where, 
a year before, "there had been such confusion and 
danger, and passed safely through the narrow 
gut between Samos and the rocky promontory 
of Trogilium, where they were obliged to anchor 
for a night, they ran into the port of Miletus, 
some thirty-six miles south of Ephesus. It 
was likely to be several days before they could 
continue their journey ; and Paul, anxious 
to see some of the Christians from Ephesus, 
sent word to them, that if they would make 
haste he might see them at Miletus before he 
sailed again. 



270 LIFE OF PAUL. [A.D. 58. 

There was a strange presentiment in Paul's 
mind during this journey. He felt that he was 
compelled, by some authority superior to his own 
will, to go to Jerusalem, while all the time he 
did not know what a melancholy fate might be 
preparing for him there. He was quite sure, 
though, that whatever happened he was not 
likely ever to see his Ephesian brethren again ; 
and he wanted once more to repeat to them the 
plain truth of the Gospel, and to warn them of 
the enemies of their souls, who would creep in 
among them, "not sparing the flock." 

When the men came from Ephesus to Miletus, 
Paul addressed them in these familiar and 
earnest words : — 

" You know, from the first day I set foot in 
Asia, the manner of my life among you all 
the time, — how I served the Lord w T ith hu- 
mility, and with many tears and trials which 
come upon me by the plots of the Jews ; and 
how I withheld nothing that would be helpful 
to you, but taught you both publicly and from 
house to house, testifying to both Jews and 
Greeks their need of repentance towards God, 
and of faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. And 
now, behold, I go bound in the spirit unto 
Jerusalem, not knowing what may happen to 
me there, except as the Holy Spirit testifies to 



Jet. 52] A FLYING JOURNEY. 271 

me in every city that bonds and afflictions are 
waiting for me. But none of these things 
trouble me ; nor do I count even my life dear, 
if only I can finish my course with joy, and the 
ministry which I have received of the Lord 
Jesus to declare the glad tidings of the grace of 
God. And now, behold, I know that all of 
you, among whom I have gone preaching the 
kingdom of God, shall see my face no more. 
Wherefore I take you to witness this day that 
I .am pure from the blood of all ; for I have 
not shrank from declaring unto you the whole 
counsel of God. Be watchful, therefore, of 
yourselves, and of all the flock for which the 
Holy Spirit has made you pastors ; that you 
feed the church of God which he purchased 
with his own blood. For of this I am sure, 
that after my departure atrocious wolves shall 
come in among you, who will not spare the 
flock ; and from your own number men will 
arise who will speak perverted words that 
they may lead away the disciples. Therefore, 
be watchful, and remember that for three years 
I ceased not to warn every one of you, night 
and day, with tears. And now I commend you 
to God, and to the word of his grace, which is 
able to build up and to give an inheritance 
among all them that are holy. When I was 



272 LIFE OF PAUL. [A.D. 58. 

with you, I coveted no man's silver or gold or 
clothing. You know yourselves that these 
hands worked to provide the necessities of life 
for myself and for those who were with me. In 
all this I gave you an example, to show you 
that so laboring we ought to support the help-^ 
less, and to remember the words of the Lord 
Jesus, — how he said, f It is more blessed to give 
than to receive.' " 1 

At the close of this touching speech they all 
together fell upon their knees, and Paul prayed. 
His heart was overflowing, and, as the last 
w r ord of the earnest prayer passed from his lips, 
they gathered about him and fell upon his neck 
and kissed him and wept, grieved most of all at 
that one sad sentence, "You shall see my face 
no more." 

It was with no little difficulty that the apos- 
tolic band tore themselves away from the cling- 
ing hearts of these Ephesian disciples, who 
must go back to the city of Diana alone. But 
the ship was ready to weigh anchor, and when 
all had hurried aboard, she sped rapidly south, 
past Cos and Rhodes to Patara. Here the pas- 
sengers to Judea are obliged to change vessels 
again, and, finding one bound for Tyre in Phoe- 
nicia, they engage passage in her. It is about 
three hundred and fifty miles from Patara to 

i Acts xx. 18-35. 



Mt.&l.) a flying journey. 273 

Tyre, — a voyage with a fair wind of from two 
to four days. The open sea lies before the 
vessel as she leaves Patara. It is the evening 
of April 26, and the moon is full. 1 Day and 
night the green waves fall away from the bows 
of the vessel, and rush hissing along her hurry- 
ing keel. Cyprus is sighted on the left, and 
passed rapidly. The next land in sight is the 
lofty range of Lebanon, and in a few hours 
more they are at anchor in the harbor of the 
capital city of Phoenicia. 

Tyre, the capital of Phoenicia, was splendidly 
situated at the head of a peninsula which jutted 
out into the Mediterranean. The extremity 
of this peninsula was, until later centuries, an 
island, between which and the mainland the 
sand has been carried by the currents, until the 
channel has gradually been entirely filled. The 
city at the present time is only a miserable 
ruin, in which two or three thousand Orientals 
drag out an existence. The glory of Tyre has 
departed. There is nothing to remind the trav- 
eller of the riches and brilliance of the ancient 
city, — of its far-famed arts and manufactures, 
and of the extensive trade it held with the 
Eastern and the Western worlds, both by land 
and sea. 

i Conybeare and Howson : " St. Paul," n. 227. 



274 LIFE OF PAUL. [A.D.58. 

" Dim is her glory, gone her fame, 

Her boasted wealth has fled ; 
On her proud rock, alas ! her shame, 

The fisher's net is spread. 
The Tyrian harp has slumbered long, 

And Tyria's mirth is low ; 
The timbrel, dulcimer, and song 

Are hushed, or wake to woe." 1 

In all probability Paul had visited Tyre be- 
fore, on some of his journeys going to or return- 
ing from Jerusalem ; and he may have organized 
the Christian church in this city. It is very 
likely, too, that Jesus himself had preached 
there. It was only thirty miles from the little 
town of Nazareth, where Jesus lived most of 
his life, and He may often have gone there while 
yet an unknown carpenter ; 2 and during his 
ministry, if he did not enter the city, he was 
in its neighborhood, where he performed some 
of his miracles. 3 

The ship that brought the Apostle and his 
companions from Patara had to discharge her 
cargo at Tyre. This would take several days. 
While the ship-hands are busy removing the 
grain or wine from the hold of the vessel to 
the docks and warehouses, Paul and the rest go 
up into the city to find the Christians who live 
in Tyre. According to our previous reckoning 

i W. M. Thomson : " Central Palestine," p. 627. 

2 Smith's Bible Diet, ill. 3335. 

3 Mark vii. 24. 



Jte.tel] A FLYING JOURNEY. 275 

they arrived at Tyre on Sunday, and remained 
there seven whole days, until the Monday of 
the following week. During this time the 
Tyrian Christians urged Paul to stay away from 
Jerusalem. They had a premonition that it 
was a dangerous place for him. 

Their ship is ready to wing her way south 
again. She is already in the offing. How 
affectionate the farewell ! The missionaries 
have been here only a week ; but that is long 
enough for hearts to knit closely. The Chris- 
tians, — men, women, and children, — all to- 
gether, followed them out of the city, and down 
to the shore. There, upon the beach, under 
the open sky, while the sea-breeze cools the 
summer morning, they kneel and pray ; then 
say "Good-bye," and "God bless you," one 
and all. The travellers go on board, and the 
Christians of Tyre watch them with tear- 
dimmed eyes, and then return to their homes. 

That Monday afternoon Paul and his compan- 
ions landed at Ptolemais, the modern Acre, and 
the long voyage was ended. One day only is 
spent in this place. On Wednesday they made 
the journey, about forty miles, overland to 
Csesarea, the political capital of Palestine. 

Philip the Evangelist, that brave man, who, 
though driven out of Jerusalem by the perse- 
cutions set on foot by aristocratic and narrow- 



276 LIFE OF PAUL. [A.D. 58. 

minded Jews, dared, nevertheless, to baptize an 
Ethiopian eunuch, and to preach the Gospel to 
the Samaritans and to the Philistines, resided 
at Caesarea. Philip was as large-hearted as he 
was brave. He was well-known in the city, 
having lived there many years. To his house 
the missionaries all go, and receive the welcome 
of warm Christian hospitality. Paul has now 
several days to spare ; for it will be a week be- 
fore the Pentecost, and three days are ample 
time for the journey from Csesarea to Jerusalem. 
He prefers to spend these days with Philip and 
his family. The Evangelist had four daugh- 
ters, all of whom had inherited their father's 
zeal, and "had devoted to the service of the 
Gospel their virgin lives." 1 It was a sunny, 
earnest, Christian home. What a comfort for 
Paul, weary, and anxious for the future, to 
have these four days of loving companionship 
and peaceful rest with persons of opinions and 
feelings so much like his o\fn. 

While these pleasant days were passing, the 
prophet Agabus came down from Jerusalem, 
and found his way also to Philip's house. He 
met Paul. Taking the Apostle's girdle he 
quickly tied it around his own hands and feet, 
and said in his abrupt and positive manner, 
knowing very well that he was uttering the 

1 Farrar : " St. Paul," II. 289. 



JEt.52.] A FLYING JOURNEY. 277 

truth : " So speaks the Holy Spirit. In this 
way shall the Jews at Jerusalem bind the man 
who owns this girdle, and deliver him to the 
Gentiles." This was no more than Paul already 
suspected, if he did not know it as well as 
Agabus did. He was making this journey, 
although willingly, yet under the shadow of 
very dark apprehensions. His friends, alarmed 
b} r the warning of Agabus, united in endeavor- 
ing to persuade him that he should not go to 
Jerusalem. Paul however remained firm to 
his purpose. The Divine finger pointed onward. 
No human voice could allure him back. "What 
do you mean?" he cried, "to weep and break 
my heart? for I am ready not only to be bound, 
but even to die at Jerusalem for the name of 
the Lord Jesus." They said no more, except 
to add that one word of Christian resignation, 
"The will of the Lord be done." 

We like to linger with Paul at Philip's home, 
these few quiet days ; for we will never see him 
again under such peaceful circumstances. We 
dread the inevitable hour when he must pack 
up his baggage, and start on his journey across 
the country to Jerusalem. But the days move 
relentlessly on. Monday morning dawns after 
a Sabbath of blessed Christian communion. 
Wednesday evening at six o'clock the opening 
service of the Feast of Pentecost commences. 



278 LIFE OF PAUL. [A.D. 58. 

A large number of Jews are going up from 
Caesarea, and some also of the Christian Jews. 
Paul and his company leave the city attended 
by disciples who love him too well to let him 
go alone. He will return to Csesarea in a few 
days ; but with a different kind of escort, and 
to be the guest of a very different host from 
Philip the Evangelist. 



PART FIFTH. 



&KX&$t r gvinlf %mpxisjoumjmt 



CHAPTER XXI. . 

THE ARREST AT JERUSALEM. 

"They shall lay their hands on you, and shall persecute you, 
delivering you up to the synagogues and prisons, bringing you 
before kings and governors for my name's sake." — Luke xxi. 12. 

11 Why, let him do it! — I am here, prepared 
For all things and their pangs." — Mrs. Browning. 

A LL the loveliness of opening summer covers 
-^- the plain of Sharon, through which the 
road passes from Csssarea to Jerusalem. The 
early corn is rustling in the fields, the hills and 
meadows are mantled with green, the roadsides 
are sprinkled with bright flowers. At this sea- 
son of the year, Nature is extravagant in her 
display of luxuries throughout Palestine ; and no 
part of Palestine is more beautiful than Sharon. 
"The rose of Sharon," the lilies of the valleys, 
the forests, the flocks, all are of the sweetest, 
fairest, grandest, best. 

Through this scene of beauty and freshness 
an old man is passing, — not a very old man in 
years, indeed, but one* worn with care and travel 
and exposure and suffering. He is accompanied 
by friends who know and love him well. All 

281 



282 LIFE OF PAUL. [A.D. 58. 

who really knew Paul loved him. There is 
little conversation as they move along. Paul 
is silent. A great anxiety about the result 
upon his work of this visit to the Christians at 
Jerusalem absorbs all his thoughts. He de- 
sires most of all, now, to heal the wounds and 
bind up the separations that have always ex- 
isted between the Jewish and Gentile believers 
in Jesus. This is his purpose in going to Jeru- 
salem. This is why he has with him the repre- 
sentatives of the Gentile churches. It is for 
this purpose that they come bringing the gen- 
erous contributions of the Christians in Asia and 
Macedonia and Greece. 

On their arrival at Jerusalem, Wednesday, 
they are conducted by their friends from Cae- 
sarea to the house of one who had been a disci- 
ple many years, — Mnason, a Cyprian, who 
was well-known as a hearty Christian and a 
genial host. Here they received a warm wel- 
come from Mnason himself, and from other 
brethren who assembled as soon as they knew 
that Paul had arrived. 

The next day, the Day of Pentecost, James, 
the venerable pastor of all the churches of Jeru- 
salem, with the " conclave of ordained ministers " x 
of the city, came together to receive, in a more 
formal and public manner, the Great Apostle and 

i Lewin, n. 139. 



MT.m.] THE ARREST AT JERUSALEM. 283 

his companions. This meeting was the point to 
which Paul had been looking forward. The 
first thing to do was to present the money col- 
lected from the Gentile Christians. One after 
another the delegates stepped forward, and, tak- 
ing from under their girdles the leathern bags, 
poured their contents upon the table. The whole 
made a handsome pile of gold coins, and 'the 
eyes of James and his companion Jewish minis- 
ters glistened and grew large at the sight. Then 
Paul recounted to them all that he had done and 
experienced while away these last four years. 
They were interested to hear about cities and 
churches that could furnish such contributions ; 
and some of them rejoiced to know, that under 
the preaching of the Gospel, so many had been 
induced to believe on Christ. When Paul had 
finished, they praised the Lord ; but their praise 
was feeble, and very soon it turned into a cold 
criticism of the Lord's faithful servant. 

"Do not think, brother, that the Gentile 
Christians are everything. See how many 
thousands of Jews there are which believe, — 
Jews who at the same time are zealous to ob- 
serve all the law of Moses ! We hear — is it 
true ? — that you teach all the Jews which are 
among the Gentiles that they need not observe 
the law. What must happen then? Every- 
body will soon know that you are in the city ; 



284 LIFE OF PAUL. [a.d.58. 

and when it is known that you are here, then 
look out ! Take our advice. Here are four 
Christian Jews who have a vow upon them ; 
but they are so poor that they are not able to 
discharge it. Take these men, go with them to 
the priest, and tell him that you will furnish 
the necessary sacrifices, — will submit with 
them to the ceremony of purification, and will 
remain in the Temple, in the Nazarites' Cham- 
ber, for a week, until the time for offering the 
sacrifices and shaving the heads. Then the 
people will believe that you are as careful to 
obey the law as they themselves are, and 
further criticism will be disarmed." l 

All this Paul was willing to do, in order to 
secure peace and union. The charge made 
against him was wholly false. He was not 
there, however, to defend himself, but to do 
the best thing he could for the cause of the 
Master. 

The week was almost over, and Paul had 
not once passed out of the sacred enclosure. 
He loved that grand Temple, although it was in 
the hands of bigots and villains. Ananias, the 
High Priest, was one of the very worst men in 
Jerusalem. He had made himself rich by 
openly robbing the inferior priests of their 
tithes. He had no regard for human life when 

1 Compare Acts xxi. 20-24. 



&i. : THE ARREST AT JERUSALEM. 285 

it stood in his way ; no respect for virtue when 
it could afford hiru pleasure. He was a glutton 
and a drunkard. Although High Priest for 
eleven years, he was murdered at last by 
assassins, who found him crouching in a filthy 
sewer to hide. Paul knew that, from this 
villain down, there was scarcely a holy man 
among all those who served in the Temple. 
Still he loved that sacred pile, just as we all 
love Lbe places with which memory associates 
the scenes of pleasant past years ; and, as he 
walked about through corridor after corridor, 
and under the spacious cloisters, and looked 
at th2 magnificent gates, and up to the Holy 
Place which stood above on a broad marble 
platform, overlooking the three surrounding. 
courts, no wonder if many thoughts of the 
time when he came as a boy to the school of 
Gamaliel, swept through his mind. 

Some of those Jews who lived in Ephesus, 
and who had failed in their attempt in that city 
to silence Paul, are visiting Jerusalem ; and, 
passing through the court of the women, who 
should they see, walking back and forth, but that 
Christian Jew, whom they hated with all the bit- 
terness of their vengeful hearts ! '* Men of Israel, 
help ! help ! See, here is that contemptible 
heretic, — that profane preacher of lies! Seize 
him ! Crush him ! Kill him ! " The cry flew 



286 LIFE OF PAUL. [A.D. 58. 

from mouth to mouth, echoing across the Temple 
area and over the bridge, until the whole city 
was in an uproar. As James and his assistants 
had said they would, the people had found out 
that Paul was in Jerusalem. There was a tre- 
mendous rush. Paul was seized and dragged 
out of the sacred enclosure into the court of 
the Gentiles, through that beautiful gate, by the 
side of which Peter had healed the lame beg- 
gar ; and the immense doors that always stood 
open from dawn to sunset were closed. 

The venerable missionary was wholly at the 
mercy of a bloodthirsty mob. They will not 
wait for trial or defence. No Sanhedrim nor 
magistrates shall come between them and their 
prey. The fingers of the foremost of the in- 
furiated gang are upon the Apostle's throat. 
They will kill him at last. 

But what comes here? There was a castle, 
Antonia, at the northwestern corner of the 
Temple, manned by a Roman garrison ; for in 
those days outbreaks of a similar character to 
this one were not uncommon among the fanati- 
cal and inflammable Jews. Lysias, the com- 
mandant, informed of the disturbance, imme- 
diately summoned a force of officers and soldiers 
to follow him, and running down the staircase 
forced his way into the crowd. The clatter of 
soldiers and the gleam of Roman spears were a 



iii^K^il 




Jb.ffl.] THE ARREST AT JERUSALEM. 289 

quick reminder to the people of the slaughter 
those same spears had made among former 
rioters. They had little desire to repeat the 
experience, and therefore let Paul go. They 
had beaten him cruelly. When Lysias saw the 
object of the people's rage, supposing that he 
was an Egyptian, who, a short time before, had 
put himself at the head of a band of ruffians, he 
commanded the soldiers to bind him with two 
chains. Then he asked who he was, and what 
he had done ? But there was such confusion in 
the court, such a Babel of accusation, that 
Lysias ordered Paul into the castle. 

As Paul was hurried along toward the castle- 
stairs between two soldiers , with a hand chained 
to each of them, the people pressed after them, 
yelling furiously : w Away with him ! away with 
him ! "" When they reached the top of the stairs, 
up which the crowd would not dare to come, 
Paul said to Lysias : — 

" Allow me to say a word to you." 

"What!" said Lysias with surprise, "can 
you speak Greek? I thought you were the 
Egyptian robber ! " 

"No, I am a Jew; a native of Tarsus, in 
Cilicia — a citizen of no mean city. I beseech 
you let me speak to the people." 

Lysias wondered, no doubt, what this man 
could have to say to a crowd which a moment 



290 LIFE OF PAUL. [A.D.58. 

before had tried to kill him : but, nevertheless, 
he gave him permission to speak ; and, that the 
speaker might be more at ease, unfastened the 
chain from one of his wrists. 

Paul, standing at the head of the stairs before 
that sea of upturned faces, understood the situa- 
tion perfectly. He knew the people, and he re- 
membered his Lord. Never for a moment did 
Paul plead for himself. He would plead with 
these his enemies, for their good, and for the 
Master's glory. There was no way, however, 
by which he could secure their attention so 
quickly as by putting himself in the attitude of 
defence. Nor was there anything he could say 
to them so likely to impress them for good as the 
story of his own conversion. It was a master- 
stroke of oratory, to be calm himself just then, 
and able to control and command the attention 
of that impatient throng. He was equal to the 
occasion, though. At a single gesture of his 
outstretched hand, a profound silence fell upon 
the people ; and, dropping the Greek language, 
in which he had just been talking to Lysias, he 
addressed his auditors in their native tongue, 
Hebrew. The people were pleased to hear their 
own language on the lips of an orator, — it was 
an unusual occurence, — and listened with all the 
more attention. 

"Men, Brethren, and Fathers," so Paul com- 



Mt. 52.] THE ARREST AT JERUSALEM. 291 

menced. Is it not wonderful how courteous he 
was to that murderous crowd ? He goes on to 
tell them, how, being a native of Tarsus, he re- 
ceived his education in Jerusalem from Gamaliel, 
and was a thorough Jew, hating the Christians 
and persecuting them. He repeats, in most vivid 
light, the story of his conversion on the way to 
Damascus, until he comes to the Lord's word to 
him by Ananias. w Thou shalt be his witness 
unto all men," and that other message which he 
heard right here in the Temple, after he had 
returned to Jerusalem, " Make haste ; leave 
Jerusalem, for they will not receive your testi- 
mony concerning me. Go ! for I will send you 
far away to the Gentiles." 

To this point they listened; but that word, 
"Gentiles," was too much for a Jew to endure. 
It was like a spark to their explosive passion. 
They were enraged to a perfect frenzy, — tear- 
ing their clothes and throwing them upon the 
ground, scraping the dust from the pavement, 
and flinging it into the air, and screaming, 
"Away with such a fellow from the earth ! He 
is not fit to live." 

Lysias could not understand Paul's address 
in Hebrew ; but, seeing the rage of the people, 
and supposing that he must have said something 
particularly offensive, gave orders that he should 
be put to the rack till he confessed his crime, 



292 Life of paul. [a.d.^. 

whatever it might be. The commandant him- 
self withdrew, and left the prisoner in the hands 
of a subordinate officer, a centurion. Paul was 
brought to the torture-post ; his clothes were 
stripped off, and his back, scarred already by 
the beating he received at Philippi, and the 
stoning at Lystra, was laid bare. His hands 
are tied down to the stake, and in this stooping 
posture he is ready to receive the stinging 
crack of the scourge, when he asserts his right 
of Koman citizenship. 

" Does the law permit you to scourge a 
Roman uncondemned ? " 

"What!" cries the officer, and the descend- 
ing lash drops by the executioner's side. Hur- 
rying away to Lysias, the centurion said, — 

" Look out what you are doing ! This man 
is a Roman." 

The captain himself came *!n, and looked 
sharply at the prisoner. 

"Tell me, are you a Roman?" 

"Yes, lam." 

" I," said Lysias, "paid a great sum of money 
for my Roman citizenship." 

" But I," replied Paul, " am a Roman by birth." 

It was the captain's turn now to be afraid. 
He had carelessly violated the law ; for, accord- 
ing to the law, he had no right to scourge a 
Roman citizen. 



JEt.52.] THE ARREST AT JERUSALEM. 29H 

That night Paul lay in the castle. The next 
morning, Lysias — in order that he might find 
out definitely the accusation which the Jews 
made against the prisoner — issued an order to 
the High Priest to assemble the Sanhedrim. 
This was the same body of Priests, Elders, and 
Scribes, in all seventy-two, before which Stephen 
made his noble but exasperating defence. The 
same body also condemned the Lord Jesus him- 
self, and delivered Him to Pilate to be cruci- 
fied. It was the same body, but not composed 
entirely of the same persons. Paul himself had 
formerly been one of these judges, and many 
of them knew him well. 

When the Sanhedrim was ready, Captain 
Lysias released his prisoner, and, bringing him 
down under guard, placed him at the bar for 
examination. At the upper end of the long 
and dimly-lighted hall sat the High Priest, — 
the contemptible Ananias, — while, ranged on 
either side, in a half-circle, sat on one side the 
Pharisees of this august court, and on the other 
the Sadducees. Paul, looking with a searching 
gaze into the faces of his judges, commenced to 
speak : — 

"Brethren : I have lived before God in all good 
conscience to this very day." 

That word, "Brethren," from a prisoner, with 
the claim that he had lived conscientiously, made 



294 LIFE OF PAUL. f A.t>. 58. 

Ananias angry, and he gave orders to the attend- 
ants who stood near Paul to strike him on the 
mouth. Paul heard the order, and, with just 
and fearless indignation, said, — 

" God shall strike you, you whitewashed wall ! 
Do you sit there to judge me by the law, and 
give orders that I be struck, contrary to the 
law?" 

Paul had forgotten that it was the real High 
Priest to whom he was speaking, until the by- 
standers rebuked him, — "Do you revile God's 
High Priest?" — when he immediately apolo- 
gized. "I did not bear in mind, brethren, that 
he was the High Priest ; for it is written, f Thou 
shall not speak evil of the ruler of thy 
people.' ' ?1 

This incident, however, was a very clear indi- 
cation of the kind of justice that Paul was likely 
to receive before this court. Instantly, there- 
fore, he determined to escape from that injustice, 
upon which, if he threw himself, he was suie to 
be put to death. He took advantage, accord- 
ingly, of the old feud between the Pharisees 
and Sadducees, and, asserting the fact thai Le 
himself was a Pharisee, claimed the sympathy 

1 " Paul admits that he had been thrown off his guard; the in- 
sult had touched him to the quick, and he had spoken rashly. But 
what can surpass the grace with which he recovered his self-pos- 
session, the frankness with which he acknowledged his error ? " — 
Hackett. — " Commentary on Acts." xxiii. 5. 



JEt. 52.] THE ARREST AT JERUSALEM. 295 

and protection of that side of the court. ff I am 
charged with believing in and preaching the 
resurrection of the dead." This was the favor- 
ite doctrine of the Pharisees ; but the Sadducees 
despised it. The two parties were ready at any 
moment to take up arms in defence of their 
opposite views. Very soon the two sides of the 
council were in a clamor of debate against each 
other. The Pharisees at once took Paul under 
their protection, saying, "We iind no evil in 
this man." The excitement increased ; and, when 
mob-law was likely to prevail among these wicked 
dignitaries of Jerusalem, Lysias, fearing that 
they would kill the prisoner, sent down a guard 
to take him away from them, and to bring him 
back into the castle. 

Paul was disheartened. That night, as he 
lay on the stone floor, he could not but wonder 
what another day might bring. But the Lord, 
who knew the heart of his servant, had not 
deserted him. In the darkness, Jesus stood by 
the prisoners side and said : w Be of good cheer, 
for as thou hast testified concerning me at Jeru- 
salem, so must thou bear witness at Rome 
also." This was encouraging. Now let come 
to-morrow what may come. 

Early in the morning, more than forty of the 
worst Jews in Jerusalem, creeping around 
through the lanes and slums of the city, bound 



296 LIFE OF PAUL. [A.D. 58. 

themselves together with a terrible oath, that 
they would neither eat nor drink again until 
their daggers had been bathed in Paul's blood. 
These men went directly to the chief priests 
and the elderly men of influence, and told them 
what they intended to do. They proposed that 
the Sanhedrim should request Lysias to give it 
another opportunity to examine the Apostle in 
its council-room ; and, when Paul was on his way 
down from the castle, they would lie in wait 
near the stairs, or in the corridor, and unex- 
pectedly rush out upon him and kill him. 

Paul had a nephew in Jerusalem, who, in 
some way or other, got wind of this bloody con- 
spiracy, and knowing that there was no time to 
be lost, went to the castle, and gained admis- 
sion to see the prisoner, his uncle. As soon as 
Paul heard the story, he beckoned to the guard 
and said, "Take this young man to Captain 
Lysias. He has something to tell him." Lysias 
was anxious to learn anything that would clear 
up this extraordinary case. When the guard 
introduced Paul's nephew as one whom Paul 
had sent with a message, the captain took the 
young man's hand in his and drew him aside, 
where they could talk together without being 
overheard, and asked him what it was he had 
to say. The young man told him the whole 
story, — how the conspirators had taken an 



_£t. 52.] THE ARREST AT JERUSALEM. 297 

oath to kill his uncle ; how the priests had fallen 
in with the plot, and were ready to help it on : 
and how they were waiting, at that very mo- 
ment, to see the captain, and make their arrange- 
ments to have Paul brought down. That was 
enough for Lysias. He knew what desperate 
men he had to deal with. He dismissed his in- 
formant, reminding him that a close mouth, just 
then, was of the utmost necessity. 

At nine o'clock in the evening, all the pre- 
parations having been made during the after- 
noon, while the shadows were deepening, and 
the darkness was settling down upon country 
and city, the rattling of horses' hoofs might 
have been heard in the court of the castle. 
Paul was to be sent to Ccesarea under military 
escort. He was a Roman, and Roman law 
would protect him from conspiracy and murder. 
Nearly five hundred soldiers, cavalry and infan- 
try, marched out at the lower gate of the 
Castle of Antonia that night. Thursday. May 2b, 1 
A.D. 58. with Paul the missionary mounted 
in the centre of the troop, and hurrying out of 
Jerusalem, passed rapidly up the highway 
across the country toward the Roman capital. 
In the morning they reached Antipatris. where 
they made but a brief halt. Leaving part of 
the >oldiers to return to Jerusalem, the cavalry 

1 Lewin . ii. 155. 



298 LIFE OF PAUL. 



[A.D. 58. 



pushed on 5 and arrived at Caesarea, probably that 
evening. Paul was taken directly to Felix, 
the governor of the province, and the letter 
of explanation l from Captain Lysias was pre- 
sented. 

Felix read the letter, and then inquired what 
province the prisoner was from. Learning that 
he was a native of Cilicia, he said to Paul: "I 
will hear your defence when your accusers also 
have come," and gave orders that he be kept in 
some part of that magnificent Herodian palace 
or castle in which the governor himself re- 
sided. 

i Acts xxiii. 25-30. 



CHAPTER XXII. 

THE PRISONER IX (LESAREA. 

"As I walked through the wilderness of this world, I lighted on 
a certain place where was a den." — John Bunt an. 

"You say that you are my judge. . . You are not my judge; 
you are my enemy ! I came from God : leave me to the judgment 
of Him who sent me. Beware what you do ; for I am in truth the 
envoy of God." — Joan of Arc. 

T7ELIX, in whose power Paul now lay, was 
-*- governor of Judea, and resided in the 
palace which Herod the Great had built at Cse- 
sarea. Felix was only another of the worst men 
that ever lived. Originally he was one of two 
brothers who had been driven down from the 
hills of Arcadia, sold in the market of Athens 
or Corinth to the highest bidder, and taken to 
Eome to serve as slaves in the household of 
the Emperor Claudius. Here the passions of 
the boy soon developed into crime ; but it was 
crime which was applauded in Rome, and which 
made him a favorite among the shameless women 
of the Imperial court. Step by step he ad- 
vanced in favoritism and influence, until he was 
made a freedman, a soldier, an officer, and at 

299 



300 LIFE OF PAUL. [A.D. 68. 

last, Governor of a Eoman province. He car- 
ried with him, however, the heart of a slave and 
the unprincipled lawlessness of a criminal. He 
had been six years Governor of Judea, when 
Paul w r as brought to Caesarea a prisoner, — 
years which he had stained with crimes of every 
shade and name. This is the man into whose 
hands the holy Apostle has fallen. 

Twelve days, crowded with terrible events, 
have passed since Paul left Caesarea. The 
friends who went up w T ith him to the Feast, 
doubtless, have returned. Philip is back again 
with his family. It must have been with very 
grave sorrow that they heard that their dear 
brother Paul was in their city again, — not now 
their guest, but a prisoner in the guard-room 
of Felix's palace. Luke, and Aristarchus too, 
very probably, came from Jerusalem to Csesarea 
as soon as they could after Paul's hurried re- 
moval. 

The priests at Jerusalem would soon discover 
that their prey had escaped ; but their vengeance 
would not let him off without making a desper- 
ate effort to get him again into their clutches. 
When, therefore, a message came up from the 
governor, that, if they had any accusation to 
make against the prisoner, they should come 
immediately to Caesar ea and make it, they were 
more than ready to go. To be sure, it was 



Bt.BBL] THE PRISONER IN CLESAREA. 301 

seventy miles, and to those priests, who were not 
accustomed to being disturbed at all, the jour- 
ney could only be disagreeable ; but Ananias, 
the chief, had not forgotten the stinging words 
of Paul, "You whitewashed sepulchre!" He 
hated, with all the venom of his wicked heart, 
the man who had thus branded him. It was only 
five days, therefore, before Paul stood in the 
Judgment Hall in the presence of Governor 
Felix, and face to face with Ananias and the 
other Jews from Jerusalem. They had brought 
with them a lawyer, Tertullus, whom they had 
engaged to conduct their case in the Eoman 
court, w4th which they themselves were not 
thoroughly familiar. 

Tertullus opened the case by preferring the 
indictment against the prisoner in three counts, 
namelv, — that Paul was a general disturber of 
the peace ; that he was a ringleader of the Xaza- 
rene sect ; and that he had violated the holiness 
of the Temple. After drawing out, to some 
length, this charge, every word of which was 
false, and having flattered the governor, and 
found fault with Lysias for hurrying the pris- 
oner away from Jerusalem to Csesarea, he ap- 
pealed to Ananias and his companions to confirm 
the statement which he had made. They unani- 
mously assented. It was now Paul's turn to 
speak. A nod from Felix told him that, if he 



302 LIFE OF PAUL. [A.D. 58. 

had anything to say in self-defence, he might 
say on. Paul spoke with his accustomed direct- 
ness and accuracy. After expressing his satis- 
faction because he was appealing to such a judge 
as Felix, who had resided in the country long 
enough to be familiar with its customs and with 
the character of his accusers, he proceeded di- 
rectly to refute, point by point, the charge made 
by Tertullus. He spoke to the governor : — 

"Most gladly do I answer to this charge 
before your Excellency, because I am well 
aware of your long residence in this country as 
governor and judge. 

"It is an easy matter for you to ascertain 
that it is only twelve days since I went from this 
city up to Jerusalem to worship. During that 
time no man has seen me disputing with any 
person, or causing any disorderly disturbance, 
either in the Temple or in the synagogues, or 
even in the streets. They cannot prove before 
you the charges they bring against me. 

" This, indeed, I acknowledge, that after the 
way, which they call a f sect,'' I worship the 
God of our fathers, — at the same time believing 
everything which is written in the Law and in 
the Prophets ; and holding a hope toward God, 
which these also hold, that there will be a res- 
urrectioii both of the just and of the unjust. In 
this faith I endeavor always to keep a conscience 



Mr. 52.] THE PRISONER IN CESAREA. 303 

free from self-accusation in my dealings with 
both God and man. 

" Now, after several years I came to Judea to 
bring a collection and offerings to my people. 
I was presenting my offerings in the Temple, 
after having submitted to the ordinance of 
purification, with no crowd and making no 
tumult, when some Jews from Asia, who 
ought to have been here before you themselves 
to make accusation, if they have anything to 
say against me ! Or, let these men here say 
definitely of what offence they found me guilty, 
when I stood before the Sanhedrim, unless they 
consider an offence that one sentence which I 
used as I stood there among them crying out : 
c Concerning the resurrection of the dead, I am 
this day called to answer.' "* 

It was impossible that such a strong, straight- 
forward, fearless defence should not make a deep 
impression upon Felix even. But Felix was 
not a true Roman. He was only an Arcadian 
slave, steeped soft in indulgence. He was not 
accustomed to making decisions with reference 
to justice, but to turning all cases so that the 
result would be most favorable to himself. He 
did not care to render an immediate decision 
against the Jews. Besides, he fancied that, if 
he held Paul as a prisoner, Paul's friends might 

i Acts xxiv. 10-21. 



304 LIFE OF PAUL. [A.D. 58. 

make up a generous ransom for his release. He 
therefore gave no verdict, but postponed the 
case indefinitely, saying that he would settle the 
matter when Captain Lysias should come down. 
Tertullus, Ananias, and his followers swept out 
of the Judgment Hall, concealing their disap- 
pointment under a haughty bearing ; while Paul, 
with a heavy heart, though cheered by faith in 
his Lord, heard the indefinite postponement of 
the decision. Who could tell how long he 
might be obliged to wait ? The Governor gave 
orders that he was to be held a prisoner, though 
with certain liberties inside the castle, — among 
which was the privilege of being visited by his 
acquaintances and friends. 

It was not many days before another signifi- 
cant incident occurred. Felix had talked with 
his wife, Drusilla, about the remarkable Jew, 
Paul. She, being a Jewess, thought she would 
like to see and hear him speak. Drusilla was 
a very beautiful woman, about twenty years of 
age. She was the sister of Agrippa, king of 
Trachonitis, and had lived a very reckless and 
wicked life, — her last act of crime being the 
desertion of her lawful husband, the king of 
Emesa, to become the paramour of Felix. It is 
very remarkable that these two dissolute people 
should want to hear Paul discourse on the 
Christian faith. It may have been from mere 



^t. 52.] THE PRISONER IX CJESAREA. 305 

curiosity to see one whose name was familiar to 
every Jew, or, possibly, from a desire for some 
new amusement, which they thought they might 
derive from listening to one who had travelled 
for, and who was also master of the arts of elo- 
quence. 

Paul had addressed many audiences ; but 
never before had he been asked to preach his 
Gospel to such an audience as the one before 
him. YThat should the prisoner say? How 
should he carry himself before the Governor of 
Judea and his wife ? They were rich. He was 
poor. They were dressed regally. He was 
clad in the coarsest cloth. They were master 
and mistress of the palace. He was a prisoner, 
with a chain at his wrist. They were the favor- 
ites of the emperor. He had no friends of 
influence. Will he not temper his message to 
the occasion? Xo, no! The ambassador of 
the King of kings stands before those two guilty 
wretches, and at once recognizes the true rela- 
tive position of himself and them. They may 
have expected compliments or sentimentalism, 
or at most an abstract statement ; but Paul 
thrusts the shaft of truth to their very hearts. 
He does not even say anything about faith here, 
so for as we know. Felix and Drusilla needed 
far different treatment. Righteousness, tem- 
perance, and judgment to come, — these were 



306 LIFE OF ?AUL. [A.D.60. 

the high themes, awful to this man and woman, 
upon which Paul chose to discourse. Felix 
shook like an aspen under the sharp torrent 
of rebuke, and with white and trembling lips he 
dismissed the preacher : fr Go, leave me for the 
present. Some other time, when it is more 
convenient, I will send for you again." 

The weary round of days and long, long 
months ran on. Many a night Paul must have 
hoped that the morrow would bring some change, 
— if not release, at least a fair trial. Why does 
not I/ysias come down from Jerusalem? Why 
does not Felix give attention to this case ? But 
Felix does nothing, except occasionally to send 
for Paul to come and talk with him, hoping 
that the Apostle, wearied out with the long 
imprisonment, will offer a bribe for freedom. 
Paul has no intention of purchasing liberty by 
such an indirect method. He demands only 
justice. It is a wearing life. Whenever he 
moves, the chain which fastens his own right 
hand to the left hand of his guard rattles be- 
side him. His eyes are weary with the same 
bare stone walls, and the coarse, sensual faces 
of the common soldiery. His ears are tired of 
the ribald jest and blasphemy. He cannot even 
go away alone to pray. We do not know what 
Paul's occupation was during these two years 
of prison-life; but we feel sure that, if there 



M.te.) THE PRISONER IN CLESAREA. 307 

was anything he could do for the good of the 
churches he had founded, or for the soldiers 
who guarded hiui, or for the wicked occupants 
of the palace, in a part of which he was con- 
fined, he did not fail to do it. 

One dav, about t\Vo years after Paul was 
brought a prisoner to Felix, there was a bloody 
riot in the streets of Csesarea. A collision oc- 
curred between the Jewish and Gentile resi- 
dents of the city. They attacked each other 
with brutal vengeance." each hating the other 
with old and relentless hate. The screams of 
the wounded and the groans of the dying may 
have been heard by Paul in his prison. It was, 
of course, the duty of the governor to quell 
such a riot ; but instead, Felix let loose his 
soldiers upon the Jews, with orders to enter 
and pillage their houses. This crowning act 
of cruel injustice aroused the Jews throughout 
the province ; and a charge was made against 
the governor, which occasioned his speedy re- 
moval to Rome to answer for the manner in 
which he had discharged the duties of his office. 
Felix therefore left Csesarea ; but before he went, 
in order, if possible, to conciliate the Jews, he 
announced that he would not release Paul (as, 
in all justice, he ought to have done), but that 
he would leave him as a state criminal, to take 
his chances under the new administration. 



808 LIFE OF PAUL. [A.D. 60. 

Porcius Festus succeeded to the governor- 
ship of Judea. He had scarcely landed with his 
suite at the capital, when he went up to Jerusa- 
lem to visit that city* Among the first things 
that occurred after his arrival there was the 
presentation to him, by«the chief priest and the 
leaders of the Jews, of the old charges against 
the prisoner at Csesarea. Paul had not lost his 
influence, although buried from public view. 
Nor was he forgotten. Dear friends remembered 
him, and his enemies relaxed neither their vigi- 
lance nor the intensity of their hate. They 
were still bent on killing him. With this ob- 
ject in view, they requested the new governor 
to send him up to Jerusalem for trial again be- 
fore the Sanhedrim. Festus, however, assured 
them that Paul should be kept at Caesarea ; 
but that in a few days he was going back 
to the capital, and would then gladly attend to 
their charges, if they would come with him 
themselves and state them there. Eight or ten 
days later, Festus returned to Caesarea ; and on 
the day following his return he opened the court, 
took his seat as judge, gave command that the 
prisoner be brought in, and notified the Jews 
of his readiness to listen to them. Their com- 
plaints were numerous and severe ; but they 
were without proof. Paul spoke for himself. 
His words were few, and to the point, — a 
straightforward denial : — 



Et. 54.] THE PRISONER IX O.ESAREA. 309 

ff I have committed no offence at all, either 
against the law of the Jews or against the 
Temple or against Caesar." 

Festus cared little for Paul, and wished to 
favor the Jews if he could do so without violat- 
ing the law. He therefore asked Paul, if he 
were willing to go to Jerusalem for trial. Paul's 
reply was decided : — 

"I am before Caesar's tribunal, where a verdict 
ought to be given. I have done no wrong to 
the Jews, as you perceive. If I am guilty of any 
unlawful conduct in the past, or have committed 
any capital crime, I do not beg off from dying ; 
but if there are no such things as these accuse 
me of, no one may turn me over to them. / 
appeal unto Ccesar!" 

This was the turning-point in Paul's prison- 
life in Caesarea. From this moment his back is 
turned upon Jerusalem, and his face is looking 
toward Rome. Festus delayed the court a mo- 
ment to consult with his legal advisers in regard 
to the prisoner's right to appeal from his deci- 
sion to that of the supreme authority at Rome. 
Then, turning to Paul, he gave his decision in 
the brief, abrupt form of the law : ff To Caesar 
you appeal. Unto Caesar you shall go." 

The court is adjourned ; but with what new 
expectations does Paul follow his guard back to 
his prison quarters ! At last going to Rome ! 



3 10 LIFfi OF PAUL. 



[A.D. 60. 



Not, however, a free man, at his own charges 
and independent, to preach to the citizens of 
Rome "the unsearchable riches," but a pris- 
oner, with a chain, held fast in the meshes of 
the law to which he had been unjustly com- 
mitted, but from which he could not easily 
escape. There were other prisoners to be sent 
to Rome. All was not ready for the ship to 
sail. Paul must wait still longer; but he had 
learned the grace of waiting. The Lord often 
has work for those to do who wait. 

After certain days, Agrippa, the Jew, king 
of Trachonitis, and his sister, the beautiful Ber- 
nice, came down to Csesarea to pay an official 
visit of welcome to the new governor. They 
had often been here in Felix's time on social 
visits, for Felix and Agrippa were brothers-in- 
law. During this visit Festus talked with 
Agrippa about the remarkable prisoner whom 
he was going to send to Rome. He told him 
how he found him there as Felix had left him ; 
how the Jews renewed their accusations against 
him, but without any evidence of crime, — only 
charging him with certain heresies, and with 
preaching about Jesus, who was dead ; but who, 
they said, Paul declared was alive. He told him 
also how, being in doubt himself about these 
religious questions, he asked Paul if he would 
not go to Jerusalem for trial ; but that Paul 



Mt.I the prisoner in cjesarea. 311 

thereupon appealed to Caesar. Agrippa was 
interested. He had probably heard about Paul 
before, and now said -that he would like to hear 
the man himself. "Very well," said Festus ; 
*- to-morrow you shall hear him." 

?f To-morrow " was a remarkable day. Festus 
knew how fond Agrippa and Bernice were of 
ostentatious display. He arranged, according- 
ly, that there should be a brilliant assemblage. 
The Praetorian Hall was prepared. The chief 
officers of the army were ordered to be in at- 
tendance. The most fashionable and wealthy 
citizens of Caesarea were invited. Agrippa, 
undoubtedly, was arrayed in the purple robes 
which were the symbol of his kingly rank, and 
Bernice sparkled with jewels. He wore a 
crown, and her forehead, too, was pressed with 
the golden circlet, for the pleasure of wearing 
which she had thrown away the virtues of sis- 
terhood, and had consented to be her brother's 
wife. Their attendants were numerous, and 
gorgeously dressed. When this magnificent 
company was seated, at a gesture from Festus, 
there came in "the poor, worn, shackled pris- 
oner, pale with sickness and long imprison- 
ment." 1 

Every eye was centred upon the prisoner. 
It was to hear him plead his own cause, as well 

i Farrar : "St Paul " n. 354. 



312 LIFE OF PAUL. [A.D. 60. 

as to pay court to the king, that all these digni- 
taries had assembled. Festus introduced the 
proceedings and the prisoner : " King Agrippa 
and all who are here present : You see this man, 
who all the Jews say ought not to live. I have 
not been able to find that he has committed any 
crime deserving death ; but, since he has ap- 
pealed unto Caesar, I have decided to send him. 
Still, I have nothing definite to write to the 
Emperor in regard to him. It was on this ac- 
count, therefore, that I have summoned him to 
appear before you, — especially before you, King 
Agrippa, that, after an examination, I might have 
something to write ; for it seems to me unrea- 
sonable to send a prisoner without stating the 
charges preferred against him." Festus fin- 
ished speaking, and Agrippa, without any addi- 
tional words, told Paul that he might now speak 
for himself. This would have been a very gra- 
cious act if Paul had been an ordinary criminal ; 
but as it was, the graciousness was all on Paul's 
part. Though worn arid impatient with prison- 
life and long delay ; though brought here into 
this assemblage to gratify the curiosity of this 
low-lived king, who was a stranger, both by 
birth and position, to virtue and honor ; though 
surrounded by the glitter and pomp of riches 
and power, and invited to " speak for himself,"— 
yet he does not forget that he is an Apostle of 



J&r. 54.; THE PRISONER IN C-ESAREA. 313 

the Lord Jesus, and that he has something to 
say to this company of men and women, of 
greater importance than any mere self-defence. 
He does defend himself; but at the same time 
he speaks of his Lord and Saviour, After ex- 
pressing his pleasure at being permitted to speak 
before the king, — especially because, the king 
himself being a Jew, could understand his posi- 
tion, he proceeded to give a detailed story of his 
life ; of his education as a Pharisee and his 
zealous persecution of the Christians ; of his 
conversion and subsequent ministry of preach- 
ing to the Gentiles that they ought to repent 
and turn to God. ^For these causes," he con- 
tinued, ff the Jews seized me in the Temple, and 
tried to kill me. But God being my helper, I 
still live, as a witness to small and great, saying 
nothing but what Moses and the Prophets fore- 
told, — namely, that Christ should suffer; that 
He should be the first to rise from the dead ; and 
that He should reveal light to the people^ even 
to the Gentiles." 

All listened attentively until Paul spoke of 
the resurrection of Jesus. This seemed absurd 
and foolish; and Festus, interrupting the im- 
petuous stream of the Apostle's eloquence, ex- 
claimed, ''You are insane. Paul! You have 
studied so much that it has turned your head." 

f? I am not insane, most noble Festus. but 



314 LIFE OF PAUL. [A.D. 60. 

speak words of truth and soberness. The king 
knows about these matters. Therefore I speak 
freely in his presence ; for I am sure that none 
of these things are unknown to him. This 
thing was not done in a corner. King Agrippa, 
do you believe the Prophets ? I know that you 
believe them." 

This direct appeal to Agrippa surprised him. 
At any other time he would have admitted at 
once that he believed the Prophets ; but he 
feared what Paul's next question might be. If 
he admitted that he believed the Prophets, the 
prisoner's relentless logic might insist that the 
Prophets then pointed directly to Christ. He 
had wit enough to evade the whole matter with 
an ambiguous jest. "A little more, and j^ou 
will persuade me to become a Christian ! " No 
wonder if a half-suppressed laugh ran over the 
assembly of gay infidels and hard-headed aris- 
tocrats at the notion of this Agrippa becoming 
a Christian, like the prisoner before them. But, 
as Paul was courteous in his reply to Festus, 
so is he the true man, earnest yet undisturbed, 
in what he says to Agrippa. He took the 
king's word at its best, and said : — 

" Ah ! I could pray to God that sooner or 
later, not only you, but also all these who hear 
me to-day, were such as I am, except" — and 
he lifted, as high as he could, the arm which 



iBT.54,] THE PRISONER AT (LESAREA. 315 

was fastened to the ever-present soldier — "ex- 
cept these chains." 

Perhaps some hearts were touched at such 
a pathetic scene, — a courteous old man, a pris- 
oner with a chain, so manifestly grateful to God 
that he is a Christian, so earnestly trying to 
persuade the king, not to intercede in his behalf 
w T ith the emperor, but to seek for himself, on 
account of his many sins, the intercession of 
the Lord Jesus. 

The assembly broke up, and, as Festus and 
Agrippa talked the matter over in private, they 
were agreed that Paul was guilty of no capital 
crime ; and Agrippa even said that, if Paul had 
not already appealed to Caesar, he might be set 
at liberty. It was too late, however; for the 
governor's verdict had already been given : 
" Unto Caesar you shall go." 



CHAPTER XXIII. 

THE VOYAGE AND SHIPWRECK. 

" Go as some ship, outworn and overladen, 
Strains for the harbor where her sails are furled." 

F W. H. Myers. 

" Though the strained mast should quiver as a reed, 
And the rent canvas, fluttering, strew the gale, 
Still must I on ; for I am as a weed, 
Flung from the rock, on ocean's foam to sail 
Where'er the surge may sweep, the tempests' breath 
prevail." — Byron. 

npHE summer winds from the sea blew out of 
-"- the west straight into the harbor of Caesa- 
rea. They were cooling and refreshing to the 
heated city. Paul was tired of the long wait- 
ing. We can imagine the feeling of relief which 

o o o 

he experienced, when at last he heard that 
there was a vessel ready to take him and the 
other prisoners who were to go to Rome away 
from the bloody walls of the prison in the Hero- 
dian palace. 

The ship belonged in Adramyttium, away up 

on the east side of the iEgean sea, a little south 

of Troas. She was on her homeward voyage, 

and could take passengers some distance on their 

316 



Mt. 54.] THE VOYAGE AXD SHIPWRECK. 317 

way toward Rome. Orders having been given 
for the removal of the prisoners, they are taken 
on board. An officer by the name of Julius, a 
centurion of Augustus* band, 1 with a sufficient 
body of soldiers, is put in charge of this com- 
pany of captives, to be responsible for their safe 
delivery in the f * Eternal City." This Julius was 
a man of marked kindness and courtesy. The 
prisoners fared as well at his hands as they 
could well expect to. His treatment of Paul 
at least was considerate. 

Aristarchus, the disciple who came with Paul 
from Thessalonica to Juclea more than two years 
before, is still with him, probably a prisoner like 
his great teacher and friend. Luke, too, —the 
physician and the writer of the story of Paul's 
life, — accompanies him on the voyage. 

Weighing anchor from Caesarea the well-laden 
ship takes her course northward along the Phoe- 
nician coast, under the promontory of Carmel, 
past Ptolemais and Tyre, until her anchors are 
dropped again into the clear, blue waters before 
the busy port of Sidon. Here she touched, 
possibly to discharge part of her cargo. Paul 
was permitted to go ashore "to refresh himself." 
It is quite probable that the miserable prison- 

1 "It has been supposed that this band was a company of the 
praetorian guard, which may have been recently sent as an escort 
with Agrippa from Rome, and was now under orders to return." — 
Merivale : " St. Paul at Rome," p. 49. 



318 LIFE OF PAUL. [A.D. 60. 

life of the last two years, and the violent change 
from that to the hold of a ship, rolling along 
the coast under a westerly wind, produced their 
naturally bad results upon him. There were 
Christians at Sidon, however, who would be 
only too glad to do anything for the relief of 
this servant of God. 

It was only for a few hours, though. Again 
they are all aboard, and this time the prow is 
turned toward the open sea. If you will look 
at the map, you will notice that the most direct 
course from Sidon to the iEgean, to which this 
ship of Adramyttium was going, lies just south 
of Cyprus. Luke tells us, however, 1 that "the 
w 7 inds were contrary." Now we know that the 
prevailing wind in the Mediterranean at this 
season of the year is from the northwest, which 
w r ould have been almost dead ahead. The 
straighter course, therefore, on this account was 
to be avoided. Besides, by sailing northward 
to the east of Cyprus, the vessel would soon 
strike, upon the southern shore of Asia Minor, 
the current which runs strongly westward. Ac- 
cordingly, we see them making their way through 
the sea of Cilicia and Pamphylia, between 
Cyprus and the mainland on the north, and 
running up to M}^ra. 

Here they left the ship. Whether it was the 

1 Acts xxvii. 4. 



^St.54.] THE VOYAGE AND SHIPWRECK. 319 

original intention of Julius to have gone all the 
way to Adramyttium, and from there crossing 
to Xeapolis, to have made the journey with his 
prisoners by land through Macedonia, we are 
not informed. At Myra there was a grain- 
vessel from Egypt on her way to Italy. She had 
probably been driven into this port under stress 
of weather ; but she was now ready to continue 
her voyage. Julius thought this a fortunate 
opportunity, and engaged passage for his whole 
troop of prisoners and guards. 

The grain-ships which ran from Alexandria to 
the ports of Italy were the largest vessels at 
that time. In addition to her cargo, this vessel 
could accommodate at least two hundred and 
seventy-six persons. 1 She was, however, in all 
probability, but a clumsy tub in comparison 
with the beautiful ships of our time. Naviga- 
tion, too, was an unknown science in those days. 
The sailor had neither charts nor compass. If 
the clay was fine and the night clear, and the 
wind steady and fair, he could pick his way 
across the Mediterranean ; but if the sun were 
hid or the winds unfavorable, he was safe only 
when in sight of land. 

Whatever comforts the other passengers may 
have enjoyed on shipboard, we are sure that the 
prisoners would be stowed away in the most 

1 Acts xxvii. 37. 



320 LIFE OF PAUL. [A.D. 60. 

wretched hole unoccupied by the cargo or the 
crew. We have seen Paul in no such unpleasant 
surroundings as these, although we have visited 
him in the dungeon at Philippi and at the whip- 
ping-post in the castle Antonia. The fetid hold 
of this grain-ship, tumbling for months through 
the cold, storm-lashed billows of the Mediterra- 
nean ; the vulgarity and profanity of the crimi- 
nals with whom he is herded ; the ever-present 
soldier, and the chain which clanks at every 
movement from the prisoner's wrist, — must have 
been very hard for the sensitive nature of such 
a man as Paul. But we can readily believe 
that even in these circumstances he thought less 
about himself than about the condition, physical 
and spiritual, of those around him. His greatest 
anxiety was, not his own comfort, nor whether 
the ship should go to the bottom, but what was 
to become of the churches he had planted, and 
who, if he failed, would preach the Gospel in 
Rome. 

Leaving Myra, they beat along under the 
lee of the shore against a strong head-wind 
nearly a hundred and fifty miles to the island of 
Cnidus. It would seem as if the captain in- 
tended to make his way across the mouth of 
the JEgean to the southern extremity of Greece ; 
but the wind, still blowing from the northwest 
with great severity, he did not dare to venture 



^Et.&I.] THE VOYAGE AXD SHIPWRECK. 321 

out among the small islands and reefs which, he 
knew very well, it would be almost impossible 
to escape. Finding no safe anchorage, there- 
fore, at Cnidus he determined to strike almost 
directly south to Crete, on the south side of 
which there was a safe harbor, protected from 
the northern gales. Bounding along with a 
whistling wind behind them, they fetch Salmone, 
the eastern promontory of Crete, passing around 
which they again work to windward, until they 
reach "the Fair Havens," — "the farthest point 
to which an ancient ship could have attained 
with northwesterly winds." l 

We are interested in this ship, because she 
carries Paul. If Paul were safely on shore, we 
would not care to follow her fortunes ; but, as 
it is, we are anxious for her, lying in this poorly 
protected harbor, so far from her destination, 
and with the season of safe navigation just 
closing. Day after day passes while the cap- 
tain watches the clouds and feels of the wind, 
hoping that before a severer storm breaks, the 
wind may shift and allow him to continue his 
voyage. But the season is advancing with un- 
faltering rapidity. The close of September is 
upon them, and they are still wind-bound. All 
hope of seeing Rome before winter is now at an 
end. But they must get away from Fair Havens 

i Smith's " Voyage and Shipwreck of St. Paul," p. 77. 



322 LIFE OF PAUL. [A.D. 60. 

if possible. About forty miles farther to the 
west, on the southern coast of Crete, is the safe 
port of Phoenix. This they are anxious to 
reach. 

The Fast, 1 or Day of Atonement, which every 
Jew on board the ship, whether sailor, pas- 
senger, or prisoner, would remember and very 
likely observe, passed by. It occurred on the 
24th of September. Five days later was the 
joyous Festival of Tabernacles. It was certainly 
time for every vessel to be safely harbored for 
the winter. The captain and owner, however, 
could not abandon the hope of yet getting away 
from this poorly-protected port. It appears as 
if they held a council composed of the officers 
of the ship and the centurion, and that Paul also 
was present. We do not know by what stretch 
of courtesy in their extreme anxiety these men 
permitted Paul, the prisoner, to express his 
opinion. Perhaps the real greatness of his 
character, and the fact of his past experiences 
on the sea (for he had been three times ship- 
wrecked) , 2 commanded the respect of those in a 
superior position. He advised them by all 
means to take the lesser risk, and stay at Fair 
Havens. 

" Gentlemen," he said, w I am sure that this 
voyage will result not only in injury and dam- 

1 Acts xxvii. 9. 2 2 Cor. ii. 25. 



JET. 54.] THE VOYAGE AND SHIPWRECK. 323 

age to the cargo and the ship, but also in peril 
to our lives." 

But the centurion, however much he respected 
Paul, had more confidence in the judgment of 
the captain and the owner, both of whom were 
on board, and were no doubt experienced sea- 
men. The result was, that the majority advised 
to be ready with the first favorable change of 
wind to leave Fair Havens and make around 
Cape Matala to Port Phoenix. 

They were not obliged to wait many days. 
The wind veered round and blew softly from the 
south. With this breeze they could with per- 
fect safety round the cape. All was stir on 
deck. The officers and crew, disheartened be- 
fore with the prospect of wintering at Fair 
Havens, were now hopeful and merry with the 
anticipation of being, in a few hours, in the 
quiet harbor of Port Phoenix. But south winds 
in October are not to be relied upon. That was 
a treacherous breeze that lured the vessel away 
from her moorings. Scarcely had she come off 
Cape Matala and looked across to the coveted 
port, when the wind fell away, and an ominous 
flapping of the sails made every face on deck 
look serious. Dark clouds came up the sky 
behind the hills of Crete, and threw their 
gloomy shadows over the black waters. That 
weird stillness, which is the precursor of furious 



324 LIFE OF PAUL. [A.D. 60. 

storms, hung over land and sea. The waves 
crouched trembling for very fear of the lash of 
the typhoon. The storm came on. The sail- 
ors could see it sweeping down from the hills, 
throwing before it clouds of dust and dry au- 
tumn leaves, and soon they felt it driving its 
great rain-drops sharp into their faces. It was 
only a moment. There was no time to furl the 
clumsy sail, nor take up the boat, w T hich had 
been towed astern. The sailor's terror, the 
merciless euraquilo, 1 was upon them. All 
hope of running into Port Phoenix in the face 
of such a hurricane was at once abandoned. 
No ship, much less the Alexandrian corn-ship, 
could face that tempest. There was only one 
thing to be done, and that was to turn her heel 
to the storm and scud before it. 

Twenty-three miles to leeward lay the little 
island of Clauda. To this the ship was headed, 
and the gale was driving her on through the roar- 
ing sea with tremendous speed. Running under 
the lee of the island, they hove-to, and with all 
the alacrity of which the frightened sailors were 
capable, took in part of their sail, hoisted the 
boat, and, to prepare the vessel to resist the 

1 The euraquUo was a fierce east-north-easter. The translation 
"euroclyclon," in the Authorized Version is incorrect. Indeed, 
the translation of the entire account of the shipwreck is very im- 
perfect. The Be vised Version is a great improvement, and ought 
to be read in this connection. 



Mr. THE VOYAGE AND SHIPWRECK. 325 

furious storm, undergirded her with stout 
cables. 1 

It was not safe to turn the vessel's prow to 
the west again, and let her drive before the gale ; 
for she would in this way inevitably be stranded 
upon the sand-bars of Northern Africa. The 
only other thing was to let her lie-to with her 
head prett}^ well up to the wind. In this posi- 
tion she would drift, almost entirely at the 
mercy of the storm. 

The night settles down, and the helpless ship 
— freighted with Egyptian wheat for the ovens 
of Eome, and with two hundred and seventy-six 
men, one of whom carries in his heart and mind 
a seed, which, dropped in the world's metropolis, 
will bring forth a harvest of eternal life — is 
driven on through a hissing sea to an unknown 
fate. 

The next morning the light crawled heavily 
up from the east, and the tempest was unabated. 
The vessel labored. To relieve her, part of the 
cargo was thrown overboard. 

The third day came; but the fury of the 
euraquilo still smote the trembling ship. She 

1 To undergird " is to pass four or five turns of a large cable- 
laid rope round the hull or frame of a ship, to support her in a 
great storm, or otherwise, when it is apprehended that she is not 
strong enough to resist the violent efforts of the sea," — Quoted 
from " Falconer's Marine Dictionary," by Smith : " Shipwreck," 
p. 108. 



326 LIFE OF PAUL. [A.D. 60. 

must ride more lightly or be broken and go 
down. They threw over, therefore, "the tack- 
ling," — very likely the main-yard, with all its 
rigging. The prospect now is gloomy enough. 
Upon a dismantled ship, over which the sea is 
incessantly breaking from stem to stern, with 
no certainty as to her position, and little hope 
of ever seeing land again, no wonder that no 
one cared to eat. There was one on board, 
however, whose faith triumphed amidst these 
most perilous surroundings. It was for that 
little, aged, pale, and weary Jew, that pris- 
oner who, if he should escape from the fury of 
the storm, was only to fall into the bloody 
hands of Nero, to stand out during those sun- 
less days and starless nights, when the tempest 
lay heavy upon the doomed ship, and speak a 
true, manly, Christian word of good cheer and 
hope. He reminded them all that it would have 
been better if they had followed his advice to 
remain at Fair Havens, and then assured them 
that no harm would come to any one, though 
the ship would be lost ; w for," he continued, 
f? there stood by me this night an angel of God, 
whose I am, whom also I serve, saying fear 
not, Paul ; thou must stand before Caesar, and 
lo ! God hath granted thee all them that sail 
with thee. Wherefore, sirs, be of good cheer ; 
for I believe God that it shall come to pass just 



Mt. 54.] THE VOYAGE AXD SHIPWRECK. 327 

as has been told me. Howbeit we must be cast 
away upon a certain island." 

For two long weeks the strained and creaking 
ship tumbled across the rolling sea. The storm 
may have gone down somewhat, but the sea was 
very heavy. About midnight of the fourteenth 
day, the men on the lookout thought they de- 
tected the peculiar roar of breakers. Imme- 
diately the lead was thrown, and to their 
surprise they discovered that there were only 
twenty fathoms (one hundred and twenty feet) 
of water. This indicated that land might be 
near. In a little while they sounded again. 
They had only fifteen fathoms. Thej^ were evi- 
dentlj- running upon some shore ; and a stormy 
shore at midnight is certain destruction and 
death. It was with all possible promptness, 
therefore, that they dropped four anchors astern, 
and brought their weather-beaten craft to a 
stand. 

Impatiently now they waited and longed for 
the dawn. Everybody was aroused. The sail- 
ors, afraid that the ship might go to pieces be- 
fore morning, — under pretext of carrying an- 
chors out from the bow, — attempted to lower 
the boat, intending, when they struck the water, 
to make for the shore. Paul detected their in- 
tention, and at once informed the centurion and 
his soldiers. ef Except these sailors remain in 



328 LIFE OF PAUL. [A.D. 60. 

the ship, you cannot be saved." Immediately 
the soldiers severed the ropes by which the boat 
hung at the ship's side, and let it tumble into 
the sea. 

Slowly to these anxious people the night 
wore on. They were cold and hungry. They 
had fasted many days. The most self-possessed 
and the calmest man of them all was Paul. He 
knew that when daylight came every man of 
them would need to be at his best in order to get 
safely ashore. He urged them, therefore, to eat ; 
and set the example by taking bread, returning 
thanks to the Giver of all good things, and 
commencing himself. All were cheered, and 
bread passed from hand to hand, until every 
one was satisfied. With a will, then, they 
went to work again upon the cargo, emptying 
into the sea basket after basket of that good 
wheat from the Mle valley. 

At last daylight came ; but no one on board 
recognized the shore. They were close to the 
land, however, and just before them was a bay, 1 
wind-swept, though, — for it lay open to the 
northeast. Into this bay they decided to run 
the ship and beach her. The small sail (the only 
one left after the hurricane) was hoisted, the lash- 
ings which fastened the rudders were unloosed, 
the hawsers were cut, leaving the anchors (which 

1 The present " St. Paul's Bay." 







*' /f WW*m 






iET.54.] THE VOYAGE AND SHIPWKECK. 331 

it would have been impossible to lift out of the 
clay where they were bedded), and the ship was 
run upon the clayey beach. The bow stuck fast : 
but the breakers pounding with tremendous force 
against the stern stove it in, and were likely, in 
a very little while, to scatter the whole of the 
shattered hulk along the shore. There was the 
utmost confusion. Some leaped overboard and 
swam ashore ; but the soldiers were too familiar 
with the unyielding severity of Eoman military 
discipline to abandon their post of duty, even 
to save their lives. Each one was responsible 
for a prisoner, for whom, if he allowed him to 
escape, he must answer with his own life. 
Therefore, in the panic which accompanied the 
breaking up of the wreck, the soldiers clamored 
for an order from their centurion to kill the 
prisoners : but Julius had no heart to stain the 
deck of a stranded vessel with the blood of men 
who had not yet been tried for the crimes for 
which they were under arrest. Especially would 
he spare the man Paul. He silenced the de- 
mand of his men; and, instead of permitting 
such an act of barbarity, assumed the responsi- 
bility of releasing every prisoner, and first 
commanded those that could swim to jump into 
the breakers and sret to the shore : while the rest 
must help themselves as best they could with 
broken fragments of the wreck. 



332 LIFE OF PAUL. [A.D. 60. 

Drenched, shaking, and breathless, one by one 
they were carried in on the rolling surf, until 
every one of the two hundred and seventy-six 
soldiers, sailors, prisoners, and passengers stood 
together on the beach. The rude natives of the 
island, who had doubtless observed the vessel 
coming ashore, and had witnessed the struggles 
of the shipwrecked voyagers in reaching the 
land, gathered around them with offers of such 
hospitality as they possessed. They called their 
island Melita or Malta. There was no house in 
the vicinity of the wreck, if indeed there was a 
house within several miles large enough to ac- 
commodate all these strangers. But they were 
shivering in their drenched clothing, and a cold 
rain was falling. Already the people of the 
island have kindled a fire. Paul was busy, with 
others, gathering such brushwood and roots as 
were lying about, and heaping them on the 
blaze, when a viper, which in the cold had 
probably crept into the cavity of some half- 
decayed root or limb, aroused by the flame, 
darted out and fastened itself to his hand. The 
superstitious natives were amazed ; and falling- 
back, whispered among themselves that this 
man, one of the prisoners, was no doubt a mur- 
derer, who, although he had escaped from the 
wreck, was overtaken by vengeance when he 
least expected it. And although Paul shook 



JBT.5L] THE VOYAGE AND SHIPWRECK. 333 

the creature off into the fire without feeling any 
bite or sting, still they kept a sharp eye upon 
him, expecting that the hand and arm would 
swell, or that he would suddenly drop dead. 
They watched in vain. The viper had not in- 
jured him at all. When they were sure of 
this, they were as enthusiastic in their admira- 
tion as they had been quick in their suspicion, 
and said that Paul must surely be a god. 

It would have been impracticable to leave 
Malta during the winter. For the next three 
months, — November, December, and January, 

— therefore, the storm-bound mariners must 
make the best of their surroundings. Five or 
six miles from the place where the vessel was 
lost, Publius, the governor of the island, resided. 
This man, being of hospitable disposition, sent 
an invitation for the entire company to come 
to his town, and provided accommodations for 
them for three days. The aged father of the 
governor was very sick. We wonder if Luke 

— who, it must be remembered, was still with 
Paul, and who was a physician — would not 
be asked to see the sick man. Luke does not 
speak of himself, however, but he does say that 
Paul went to the side of the old man's bed, put 
his hands on him, prayed, and healed him. 
When it was known that Paul could heal the 
sick, the people came from all parts of the 



334 LIFE OF PAUL. [A.D. 61. 

island, beseeching him to heal them also. This 
he was ready to do, and in turn the people con- 
ferred marked attention and kindness upon Paul 
and his friends. 

During those three winter months, undoubt- 
edly, Paul preached Christ to the idolaters of 
Malta ; and, from the fact that at the time of 
departure, the people loaded them with such 
things as they needed for the remainder of the 
voyage to Eome, we may believe that the Gospel 
was received by many who heard it that winter. 

Spring comes early in the Mediterranean. 
Navigation was open, the storm-tossed sea was 
at peace again, early in February. The Castor 
and Pollux — another Alexandrian ship, more 
fortunate than the vessel which, driven by the 
gale, was stranded on the north side of Malta 
— had wintered in the snug harbor of Valetta. 
She was now waiting to proceed to Eome with 
the first available wind. Julius engaged pas- 
sage on her for his soldiers and prisoners. The 
first day out from Valetta would bring them to 
the shore of Sicily, directly north from Malta. 
Here, apparently, they met a head- wind, and 
were obliged to run into Syracuse and wait 
three days. The wind still being unfavorable, 
they sailed by a circuitous route into the mouth 
of the straits of Messina, and, not being able to 
pass the straits, dropped anchor in the harbor 



Mt. 55.] THE VOYAGE AND SHIPWRECK, 335 

of Rhegium. The next day was fine. The 
wind came in from the south. The clouds flew 
away. The sunlight fell upon the peaks — not 
far away — of smoking iEtna and blazing Strom- 
boli. It was a pleasant run through the straits, 
along the shore of Italy, to the charming bay of 
Naples, where, — 

" Not a grove, 
Citron or pine or cedar, not a grot 
Sea-worn and mantled with the gadding vine, 
But breathes enchantment. Not a cliff but flings 
On the clear wave some image of delight, 
Some cabin-roof glowing with crimson flowers, 
Some ruined temple or fallen monument, 
To muse on as the bark is gliding by." 1 

i Samuel Rogers : " Italy." 



CHAPTER XXIV. 

THE PRISONER AT ROME. 

" I must also see Rome." — Acts xix. 21. 

" I am in Rome ! Oft as the morning ray- 
Visits these eyes, waking at once I cry, 
Whence this excess of joy ? What has befallen me ? 
And from within a thrilling voice replies, 
Thou art in Rome ! " — Rogers. 

T)AUL will soon be in the capital of the 
-*- world, the largest, richest, and most splen- 
didly ornamented city of the first century. In 
its external aspect the magnificence of Rome 
would have compared favorably with that of 
modern Paris. It was not a city of temples 
and statues like Athens ; but rather a city of 
avenues and arches, theatres, baths, and palaces. 
Augustus, during a long and prosperous rule of 
nearly half a century, had rebuilt Eome, — 
" having found a city of brick, and left one of 
marble in its stead." 

The population of the city of Rome at this 
time is estimated to have been about two mil- 
lions. Half of these were freemen, only a small 
proportion of whom, however, were native Ro- 
mans. Even the freemen were largely foreign- 
ers, who had secured, in one way and another, 
336 



JEt.56.] THE PRISONER AT ROME. 337 

the freedom of the state. The other half of the 
population was composed entirely of slaves. 
. Slavery was the poison and curse of Rome. 
The slave was a mere chattel. His master pur- 
chased him at the lowest figure, allowed him no 
personal rights at all, used him for any service 
which he pleased, scourged him if he was disobe- 
dient or unfortunate, killed him if he pleased, 
or if the slave was old and worthless, drove 
him into the street to beg or starve. Slaves 
were cheap. Rich people owned thousands. As 
man}' as twenty thousand slaves belonged to a 
single owner ; and ten was the smallest possible 
number that a person of respectability could 
think of keeping in attendance. One of the 
worst features of slavery w T as that there were so 
many female slaves. Young girls from every 
part of the world, selected for their attractive- 
ness of form and features, were brought in 
hordes to Rome to be the slaves of rich men, 
until ruined and made vicious and reckless, they 
w r ere thrown into the streets to deepen the terri- 
ble corruption of the city's morals. "Horrors 
such as only the most depraved imagination could 
conceive were made possible through slavery." l 
Religion of every kind was at its lowest ebb 
in Rome. It was practically an irreligious city. 

1 For a full account of slavery in Rome, see Dollinger, " The 
Gentile and the Jew," i : 259-277 ; Brace, " Gesta Christi," 41-70. 



338 LIFE OF PAUL. {Ail). M. 

There were, as there always have been, some who 
revered the old gods, and who endeavored to do 
right. But the most religious and purest people 
in Eome at this time were the Jews, the larger 
part of whom worshipped God and regarded 
the Law of Moses. Among even this people, 
however, there were noted cases of compliance 
with the spirit of the times. There were a few 
Christians in Rome, "faithful among the faith- 
less," though, up to the time of Paul's arrival, 
there may have been no organized Christian 
church. 1 

In a splendid palace on the Palatine Hill, 
having been lifted by the circumstances of birth 
and intrigue to rule this weltering mass of 
"luxury and squalor, wealth and want," young 
Nero lives. He has been emperor seven years. 
At the age of sixteen, a year before he assumed 
the purple, he was married to Octavia, whose 
virtues soon becoming tedious to his fervid 
fancy, he abandoned her, and lived on terms of 
lawless intimacy with Acte, a Greek courtesan. 
Acte, however, did not long hold the affections 
of this youthful monster, but was soon displaced 
from his embraces by the adulterous Poppaea, 2 

1 Merivale : " St. Paul in Rome, " 52. 

2 "This infamous woman, not content with inducing her para- 
mour to divorce his young wife Octavia, had demanded and obtained 
the death of her rival ; and had gloated over the head of her mur- 
dered victim, which was forwarded from Pandataria to Rome for her 
inspection ." — Oonybeare and Howson : " St. Paul," ii. 431. 



^T.fej THE PRISONER AT ROME. 339 

who already had two husbands, Xero had 
been a pretty boy. His principal instructors 
were a barber and a dancing-master. He M had 
handsome features, was of a ruddy complexion, 
with blue eyes, and wore his light hair, like a 
girl, in tresses ; and when he visited Greece it 
was even bound in a fillet at the back of his 
head. He was usually attired in the most 
fantastic dress, and never put on the same robe 
twice.*' 1 This fanciful and soft-looking fellow 
was a fiend in disguise. He threw one of 
Rome's best statesmen, Narcissus, into a damp 
dungeon to starve and die ; poisoned his un- 
successful rival, Britannicus, at the age of thir- 
teen ; murdered his own mother, Agrippina ; 
divorced and permitted the death of his wife, 
Octavia ; compelled Seneca to take his own 
life, because he was so immensely rich; to 
gratify a mere boyish whim, is reputed to have 
burnt a large part of the city with great destruc- 
tion of property and life ; in a fit of passion 
kicked Popp^ea, his paramour, to death ; and 
ended his career by suicide at the age of thirty- 
one. 

It was toward such a city as this, compact 
with every form of folly and vice, taking the 
tone of its irreligion and immorality from the 
example and law of such a wretch, that the 
great Apostle to the Gentiles was moving. 

i Lewin, ii. 227. 



340 LIFE OF PAUL. [A.D. 61. 

The Castor and Pollux, in all probability the 
first grain-ship that had arrived from Egypt that 
spring, ran into the bay of Naples and up to 
Puteoli with all her canvas set. The arrival 
of these vessels, upon whose cargoes so much of 
the prosperity of Italy depended, was watched 
with eagerness ; and this first one of the season 
was likely to be welcomed with a genuine ova- 
tion. The people gathered in crowds upon the 
wharves, and gave themselves up to the recrea- 
tion and hilarity of a public holiday. 1 There 
were Christian brethren at Puteoli, who were 
soon made aware of the arrival of the three 
Christian men from Judea, — especially of him 
whose letter to Rome three years before some 
of them had heard. Julius was quite willing 
that his prisoners should remain in Puteoli a 
week. Indeed, we may imagine that this officer 
of the army, who had been compelled to pass 
the last six months in such hardship, would have 
a keen appetite for the pleasures and luxu- 
ries of the gay watering-place. Paul, however, 
would be likely to find another kind of recrea- 
tion. It was always his highest joy under 
whatever circumstances, to preach to and to 
teach men of every class and nationality, the 
good news of the Gospel. At the end of seven 
days Julius was ready to move on to Rome. 

1 Merivale : "St. Paul in Rome," p. 50. 



JEt. 55.] THE PRISONER AT ROME. 341 

The Appian Way, the w Queen of Roads," 
which connected Brundusium with the capital, 
passed through Capua, a few miles inland from 
Puteoli. Portions of the carefully-fitted pave- 
ment of this celebrated road are still to be seen, 
though it is more than two thousand years since 
it was made. This was the highway to Rome. 
We have no information in regard to the means 
of conveyance chosen by Julius ; but we may 
presume that the prisoners walked. Paul, how- 
ever, was a good pedestrian. We remember 
how he preferred to walk from Troas to Assos, 
when his companions went by ship. So, on 
they " went toward Rome." 2 The Appian Way 
presents a scene of animation at this time of 
year. The season opens early in Italy. The 
willows by the roadside are tossing their little 
tufts of green in the soft air. The people from 
the city are beginning to scatter to the hills 
and the seaside, — to Capua, Cumee, Formiae, 
Baise, Neapolis, Puteoli, and Caprese. As Paul 
and his friends go on, carriages with richly 
attired ladies roll along the pavement ; heavy 
wagons with grain for hungry Rome rumble by ; 
the vine-clad Falernian hills look down upon 
them ; the valleys are bright with coming sum- 
mer ; the sea, which is so near at some points 
as almost to touch the Appian pavement, 

1 Acts xxviii. 14. 



342 LIFE OF PAUL. [A.D. 61. 

sparkles and dances in its free delight. But 
Paul is a prisoner. Emperors and generals 
have swept along this avenue, dragging thou- 
sands of captives in triumphal procession to 
Rome. Envoys from foreign courts with re- 
splendent retinues have passed this way. But 
here comes one, —an ambassador of the Lord, 
and in bonds ! 

The delay at Puteoli had been long enough to 
permit the news of Paul's arrival to reach the 
Christian disciples in Rome, one hundred and 
forty miles away. These brethren came to 
meet him all the way to Appii Forum, some 
forty miles. It was a great pleasure to Paul to 
receive such a welcome. Ten miles further, at 
the Three Taverns, another group of Christians 
were waiting for him. When Paul looked into 
the eager faces of these, — we cannot but won- 
der if his dear friends, Aquila and Priscilla, 
were not among them, — he thanked God, and 
took courage." 1 

At last we are in Rome. We have entered 
by the Capena Gate, past the Circus Maximus, 
the great race-course, under the brow of the 
Palatine Hill, 2 upon which towers the imperial 

1 Acts xxviii. 15. 

2 " The Palatine was the most conspicuous spot on the earth, 
not merely for crime, but for splendor and power. This was the 
centre of all the movements of the empire. Here were heard the 
causes of all Roman citizens who had appealed to Cnesar." — Coxy- 
beare and HOWSON : " St. Paul," n. 419. 



Mr.m.] THE PRISONER AT ROME. 345 

palace, around to the entrance of the Praeto- 
rium or barracks, where, after the customary for- 
malities, the centurion relinquished his charge 
to the officer in command, Burrus, the praefect 
of the Praetorium. 

In addition to the comparatively small barracks 
on the Palatine, which could accommodate few 
more than the body-guard of the emperor, there 
was the spacious Praetorian camp just outside 
the walls on the northeast side of the city. 
This camp was a large square or parade-ground 
surrounded by the quarters of the Praetorian 
cohorts, that part of the standing army of the 
empire stationed at the capital. It is impos- 
sible to ascertain with absolute certainty in 
which of these places Paul was kept. We have 
reason to believe, though, in whichever camp he 
was, that his confinement was relieved of some 
of the customary severity. Julius had treated 
him with marked courtesy, and no doubt when 
the centurion delivered his remarkable prisoner 
to Burrus, he commended him to the special 
kindness of that official. The Roman law 
which required that every prisoner's right wrist 
should be chained to a soldiers left could not 
be relaxed ; but Paul could have his own apart- 
ment in which, with the ever present guard at 
hand, he might reside, and where he could re- 
ceive his friends, or strangers even, who would 



346 LIFE OF PAUL. [A.D. 61. 

seek him for religious instruction and consola- 
tion. Probably during the first days after his 
arrival at Rome some of the Christian brethren 
were with him continually, busy securing as good 
a room as might be available at the price they 
could pay, providing such things as he would 
need for his comfort by day and night, and 
some of them talking incessantly of "past days 
when they had been together. 

Three days passed when an event occurred, 
for which we can discover no explanation, ex- 
cept it be in Paul's magnanimous devotion to 
his own people, the Children of Israel, and in 
his hope that they might yet accept his Saviour. 
He would make one more attempt to reach the 
hearts of his countrymen, even here in Rome. 
Not one of them had come near him ; but he 
wanted to see them , to lay before them the facts 
in regard to his arrest and commitment. Ac- 
cordingly, he sent for the representatives, "the 
chiefs " of the Jewish community in Rome, ask- 
ing them, since he could not go to them, to do 
him the favor to come to him. When they had 
assembled, Paul related to them how the Jews 
at Jerusalem had seized him and delivered him 
to the Romans ; how, upon examination, the Ro- 
man governor discovered no offence and would 
have acquitted him but for the persistent accu- 
sations by the Jews, in the face of which he was 



JET. 55.] THE PRISONER AT ROME. 347 

obliged, in self-defence, to appeal to the em- 
peror. He would have them know that he was 
a prisoner, not because he had committed any 
crime, but simply because he held that the 
Jewish hope of a Messiah had been fulfilled in 
Jesus of Nazareth. The reply of the Jews to 
Paul's appeal was very gracious, if indeed it 
but poorly concealed their purpose to be entirely 
unmoved by his words. They had not received 
any letters from Judea in regard to him, nor 
had they heard any rumors or reports to his 
disadvantage. They would like, however, to 
hear his opinions ; for they had heard that the 
sect to which he belonged was everywhere 
spoken against. 

The Jews agreed upon a day when they 
could hold a larger and a more general meeting 

c o o 

of their people to listen to Paul. They pressed 
in and packed Paul's apartment, 1 and he preached 
to them, explaining the Scripture and telling 
them about Jesus. It was an all-day meeting, 
the results of which were good. Some were 
not persuaded ; but some others were persuaded, 
and believed what Paul had said. It was not to 
be expected that all those Jews would become 
followers of Christ. AYe maj^ imagine that 

1 It is presumed that there were not less than sixty thousand 
Jewish residents in Rome at this time. There were seven syna- 
gogues, the officers of which would probably fill Paul's lodging. 
See Farrar's " St. Paul," n. 394. 



348 LIFE OF PAUL. [A.D. 61 

through that day, from early morning until the 
dusk of evening, they listened, asked questions, 
argued, and debated. But they could not 
agree. When they were about to withdraw, 
Paul spoke one more word to them, quoting 
from the same prophet to whose writings, doubt- 
less he had referred many times during the 
day, — 

w Well spoke the Holy Ghost through Isaiah 
the prophet unto your fathers, saying, 

' Go thou unto this people, and say, 

' Hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand, 

' And seeing ye shall see and shall not perceive ; 

' For this people's heart has become gross, 

* And their ears are dull of hearing, 

' And their eyes have they closed, 

' Lest they should see with their eyes, 

6 And hear with their ears, 

' And understand with their heart, 

' And should be converted, 

'And I should heal them.' 

"Be it known therefore unto you, that this 
salvation of God is sent unto the Gentiles. 
They also will hear it." 

This is the last incident in the life of Paul 
which is here recorded. And is it not remark- 
able and significant, that this closing scene in 
the Acts of the Apostles should have been a 
formal declaration by the principal representa- 
tive of Christianity of the facts, — that the Jews 



IEt. THE PRISONER AT ROME. 349 

had wilfully and stubbornly rejected the Gos- 
pel, and that, because they had so done, the 
Gospel would go to the Gentiles? Henceforth 
the Jew. wrapping himself closely in the robes 
of his religious exclusiveness, will stride through 
the centuries with ears and eyes and heart closed 
to the appeals of the Gospel. 

Paul's prison-life in Rome continued through 
two whole years. He had appealed to the 
Caesar, and now he must wait for the dilatory 
motion of CaBsar Nero or of his deputy, and 
abide the inevitable consequences of "the law's 
delay." Before his trial could come on, wit- 
nesses against him must appear. It was in the 
autumn of A. D. 60 that he made his appeal 
from Ceesarea, and it is not probable that the 
Jews would do anything about sending wit- 
nesses to Borne before the next summer, 1 espec- 
ially since they could feel that the hated Apostle 
would be safe in a Soman prison, and they could 
not be sure but that when the trial came he 
would be acquitted and set at liberty. So Paul 
waited, but not idly. Thanks to the kind atten- 
tion of friends, he occupied his own apartment. 

1 " Their witnesses must be suniinoned from Judea, from Syria, 
from Cilieia, from Pisidia, from Macedonia ; in all cities from 
Damascus to Corinth, in all countries from Jerusalem round about 
unto Illyricum. most testimony be sought to prove the seditious 
turbulence of the ringleader of the Xazarenes." — Conybeare 
and HOWSON : "St. Paul," n. 376. 



350 LIFE OF PAUL. [A.D. 62. 

Here he was accessible at all times, so that, 
while he could not visit the synagogues, nor estab- 
lish any public preaching-station ; nevertheless, 
within his own four walls he had the completest 
liberty to receive, converse with, and preach to 
all who desired to come. We are ready to be- 
lieve that rich results came from these two 
years, while the captive waited and labored. 
Stone walls cannot imprison enthusiasm like 
Paul's. He was throwing into the mass of in- 
famous immorality, of enervating luxury, and 
of desperate philosophy at Rome, the leaven 
which some day would save her from the utter 
ruin for which she was recklessly preparing 
herself. 

No doubt persons from all classes in the city 
came under Paul's personal influence. Sober 
men and women, who were heartily sick of 
heathenism and wanted a better religion, might 
be found seeking out the prisoner. Some of the 
soldiers who took their turns to guard him, 
might have received and scattered the truth. 
There were, probably, thousands of slaves of all 
grades in attendance upon the imperial palace, 
all of whom were at liberty to visit the man of 
the Lord Jesus Christ. Some of these became 
Christians. 1 Of this class was one for whom 
Paul conceived a very tender affection. Is it 

i Phil. i. 13; iv. 22. 



jEt. 56.] THE PRISONER AT ROME. 351 

not surprising how a thorough conversion will 
make a veritable slave to be the chosen compan- 
ion of so great and good a man as Paul ? 

One day a miserable slave found his way into 
Paul's lodging. A sharp word startled his dull 
conscience. The thought of his past life over- 
whelmed him and he became a Christian. He 
told Paul that he had belonged to Philemon, 
one of Paul's acquaintances at Colossae. He 
had robbed his master and run away. For all 
this he was thoroughly penitent, and in his pen- 
itence and determination to be a Christian, Paul 
took him to his heart. "He who had been the 
slave of Philemon is now made the 'brother' of 
the saints. He who had been a runaway thief 
is now worthy of the highest trust." 1 But 
Christianity is not merely penitence and forgive- 
ness, but a righteous life and, if need be, and 

— as far as possible — of restoration. Paul, 
accordingly, sent the converted slave back to 
his master, and made him the bearer of a letter, 

— the Epistle to Philemon, — the briefest, the 
most purely personal, and one of the kindest 
and most tenderly considerate of all Paul's let- 
ters that we have. 

While Paul was still a prisoner, Epaphras of 
Colossse, probably the pastor of the church in 
that city, came to Rome. He reported that 

1 Howson: "Companions of St. Paul," Onesimus, 156. 



352 LIFE OF PAUL. [A.D. 63. 

dangerous heresies were creeping into the 
church. How Paul longed for liberty, that he 
might hurry away to the Christians in Colossse, 
and correct these errors ! But this he could not 
do. His only method of reaching them was by 
letter. With great care and painstaking there- 
fore, he wrote the letter, — the Epistle to the 
Colossians, and sent it by that same Tychicus 
whom we saw with Paul once before. 1 

It must have been about the some time, also, 
that Paul wrote the letter called the Epistle to 
the Ephesians. It was a general letter, and 
" though addressed to the Christians at Ephesus, 
was designed for circulation in all the churches " 2 
in that part of Asia. 

Still later, and near the end of the two years, 
a most refreshing incident occurred to break 
the monotony of Paul's life. This was no less 
than the arrival, from that warm-hearted church 
at Philippi, of Epaphroditus, with gifts to sup- 
ply any need that the Apostle might have. 
Paul's circumstances were not so hopeful as 
they had been. Burr us, the lenient and con- 
siderate Prefect of the Praetorium, had re- 
cently met death under suspicious circum- 
stances, and one of Nero's parasites had been 
appointed to the office. The prospect was 

1 Acts xx. 4. 

2 Ellicott: Intro, to Commentary on " Ephesians." 



JET.57.] THE PRISONER AT ROME. 353 

cheerless. Read ncrvv the Epistle to the Phi- 
lippians, which Epaphroditus took back with 
him (after a long detention by sickness), and 
see how Paul prized the attention of his old 
friends, and how Christian love and gratitude 
glow in almost every sentence of this letter to 
them. 



CHAPTER XXV. 

THE LAST YEAKS. 

" The great design unfinished lies, 
Our lives are incomplete, 
But in the dark unknown 

Perfect their circles seem, 
Even as a bridge's arch of stone 
Is rounded in the stream." 

H. W. Longfellow. 

" There is laid up for me a crown of righteousness. ,, — 2 Tim. iv. 8. 

X\7'E have no thoroughly reliable account of 
" the last years of Paul's life. 1 If Luke 
had written another chapter of The Acts of the 
Apostle, we would read it now with gratitude ; 
and why he did not write that additional chap- 
ter, we are at a loss to comprehend. It is by 
no means necessary, however, that our curiosity 
on this particular point should be gratified. 

The general opinion of early Christians was, 
that after the expiration of the two years' im- 
prisonment mentioned by Luke, Paul was set 
at liberty ; that he used his freedom to visit 
many of the churches that he had founded, and 

1 " At this instant, we pass from the firm and solid ground of 
authentic and credible history, upon the quaking and insecure foot- 
ing of legendary tradition." — Milman : " History of Christian- 
ity," vol. I, book ii, chap. iii. 

354 



jEt.57.] THE LAST YEARS. 355 

also to preach in places which he had not visited 
before ; and that after some years he was again 
arrested, and sent back to Rome, where he was 
tried, condemned, and beheaded. This is the 
view taken by almost all writers on Paul. The 
authority for it is derived mainly from two 
sources. 

In the first place, we have two Epistles, 
First Timothy and Titus, which seem to have 
come from Paul's hand during a time of free- 
dom, and after he had been a prisoner at Rome ; 
while Second Timothy bears unmistakable evi- 
dence of having been written at Rome, and 
apparent indications that at the date of its com- 
position, Paul was a prisoner there for the 
second time. There are hints and allusions 
scattered through these letters that cannot be 
so well accounted for in any other way. 

In addition to this there are a few definite 
statements by writers, all of whom wrote within 
three centuries and a half of Paul's time. 1 

Jerome, who lived from A.D. 340 to A.D. 
420, wrote that "Paul teas dismissed by Nero, 
that he might preach Christ's Gospel in the 
West." 

Chrysostom, who lived from A.D. 347 to 
A.D. 407, said that M Paid after his residence in 
Rome departed to Spain." 

1 Conybeare and Howson : "St. Paul," n. 438. 



356 LIFE OF PAUL. [A.D. 64. 

Eusebius, who lived from about A.D. 264 to 
A.D. 340, calls attention to the fact, that, 
" after defending himself successfully it is cur- 
rently reported that the Apostle again went forth 
to proclaim the Gospel, and afterwards came to 
Rome a second time, and was martyred under 
Nero." 

We assume then, on the strength of such tes- 
timony as this, that Paul, after living two years 
in his own rented apartment in the Prsetorium, 
receiving all who came and faithfully preaching 
the Word of Life to them, was, either with or 
without a formal trial, released. We do not 
know in which direction he first turned his 
steps. Conybeare thinks that he may have 
gone to Spain, and remained in that country 
between two and three years. Lewin with great 
confidence traces Paul's footsteps in Spain, but 
assumes that his visit there lasted only a few 
months. Farrar rejects entirely the supposition 
that the Apostle ever visited Spain. There is 
better reason for believing that, whether Paul 
went to the West from Eome or not, a consider- 
able part of this period of freedom was passed in 
Greece, in Attica, Epirus, and Macedonia, — 
where he met old friends and made many new 
ones. In Philippi he would rejoice to be once 
more with those Christians whose love had never 
forgotten him, who had ministered to him once 



.Ex. 58.] THE LAST YEARS. 357 

and again. It was perhaps while in Philippi or 
possibly, at an earlier date, while in Attica or 
Epirus, that the two letters, the First Epistle to 
Timothy and the Epistle to Titus, pastor on the 
Island of Crete, were written. There is a fair 
presumption that from Macedonia Paul once 
more crossed the iEgean to Troas, where he 
enjoyed the hospitality of Carpus. 

On the night of July 19, A.D. 64, a fright- 
ful conflagration burst out in Rome. It was 
discovered first in some wretched houses on 
the northern side of the city near the Tiber. 
There was a high wind. The buildings in that 
part of the city were of the most combustible 
character and, many of them being shops — 
were stored with various kinds of woods, oils, 
and gums. 1 Besides it was the dry est time of 
summer. The flames swept from house to 
house, and from street to street. Xothing could 
check the raging fire. For nine long days and 
nights Rome was ablaze, until at last when the 
conflagration had exhausted itself, the terror- 
stricken inhabitants found, as they crept through 
the smoke and over the scorching pavements, 
that there was left scarcely a vestige of their 
beautiful city. The palaces of the rich and the 
hovels of the poor alike, had gone down in the 
burning. Rumor whispered that the emperor 

i Davies ; " St. Paul in Rome," p. 143. 



358 LIFE OF PAUL. [A.D. 65. 

himself was responsible for the fire ; that he 
had burned Rome in order that he might gratify 
his vanity by rebuilding it on a scale of surpass- 
ing magnificence and splendor. It is said that 
in order to protect himself against this charge, 
Nero sent the report flying through the excited 
city, that Christians had been the incendiaries. 
The exasperated people were quick to catch up 
this insinuation against the Christians. Rome 
was in a frenzy. The wildest projects were on 
foot. The smarting, infuriated populace was 
ready on the instant to wreak its revenge upon 
those against whom suspicion had been started. 
Christians were hunted as if they had been the 
most venomous pests. They were dragged out 
of their hiding-places, kicked, scarified and 
butchered. Some were sewed up in the skins 
of beasts and thrown to hungry dogs. Others 
wrapped in cloths, saturated with grease, or 
smeared with wax and pitch, f? with a stake 
under the chin to keep them upright," were 
placed for torches in the gardens and parks, 
and permitted to be slowly consumed, while 
their agonized groans and screams were drowned 
by the vengeful shouts of those who, in this 
grim fashion, made "a Roman holiday." 

The persecution set on foot in the capital 
spread throughout the empire. The very name 
of Christian became hateful to Romans every- 



JEt.59.] the last years. 359 

where. The slightest pretext was sufficient to 
condemn to death a believer in Christ, where- 
ever he might be found, or in whatever occupa- 
tion he might be engaged. 

Such was the popular feeling against the 
Christians when in A. D. 65 Paul came to Troas. 
The general opinion is, that while Paul was at 
Troas in the home of Carpus, those same Ephe- 
sians — with whose business Paul's preaching- 
had interfered years before — heard of his 
whereabouts, and, taking advantage of the 
universal clamor against the Christians, once 
more arrested and sent to Eome this chief and 
head, teacher, leader, and inspiration of the 
pestiferous Christian sect. One historian, 1 how- 
ever, advances a different opinion, namely : that 
Paul, hearing of the ''Roman Church, perse- 
cuted, scattered, decimated, — worse than deci- 
mated, — by the fierce persecution," went to 
Rome of his own accord to console and to help 
his brethren there, and to reorganize the shat- 
tered church. In whatever way, whether hav- 
ing been brought as a prisoner or having come 
as an apostle, about the year A. D. 66 we trace 
the prints of Paul's weary feet to the smoulder- 
ing city. Persecution is still rife in Rome. It 
will be remarkable if this most conspicuous fig- 

1 Milman: " History of Christianity," Vol. I., Book n, Chap, 
iii., appendix. 



360 LIFE OF PAUL. [A.D. 66. 

ure, this zealous preacher of Christ's Gospel, is 
permitted to live in Eome. We seem to see 
him a prisoner again. He writes one more let- 
ter, — The Second Epistle to Timothy. The 
letter is full of strength and tenderness. "The 
true, loving, undaunted, and trustful heart of 
the great Apostle," 1 overflows into every sen- 
tence and word. It is a dying message, and 
filled with the victor's triumph. He reviews the 
past hardships only to say, "Out of them all 
the Lord delivered me." 2 He glances up at the 
advancing fury of his enemies, and with all the 
calmness of faith, repeats: "The Lord shall 
deliver me from every evil work, and shall save 
me into His heavenly kingdom." 3 

And this is the end. 4 The historian of the 
fourth century wrote that Paul " was martyred 

1 Ellicott : " Commentary on 2 Timothy," Introduction. 

2 2 Tim. iii. 11. 

3 Ibid., iv. 18. 

4 "The place of execution was not far distant; and there the 
sword of the headsman ended his long course of sufferings, and 
released that heroic soul from that feeble body." — Conybeare 
and Howson: " St. Paul," xi. 488. 

" After the usual preliminaries, the passive martyr was blind- 
folded and laid his head upon the block. The executioner did his 
work, and Paul was in the world of spirits." — Lewin: "St. 
Paul," xi. 402. 

" The word of command to halt was given; the prisoner knelt 
down ; the sword flashed, and the life of the greatest of the Apos- 
tles was shorn away." — Farrar : " St. Paul," xi. 578. 

" One stroke of the fatal weapon, and the soul of the glorious 
Hero is carried up by angels to Paradise ! " — Macduff : " Foot- 
steps of St. Paul," 415. 



<Et.60.] the last years. 3fil 



under Nero." Imagination pictures "Paul the 
aged," a criminal, with a hissing crowd at his 
heels, led out by a centurion, two miles from 
the city to a secluded hollow, where he was be- 
headed. Tradition points out the spot, and 
reverence for the man, who of all men was the 
greatest benefactor of mankind, has erected over 
it a Christian church. 



TABLE OF PAUL'S EPISTLES. 



Where written, 

CORINTH . 

a 

Ephesus . 
Macedonia 
Corinth . 



To ivhom. Date. 

Thessalonians (I.) . . . A.D. 52. 
(II.) ... 

Corinthians A.D. 56. 

(II.) .... A.D. 57. 

Galatians " 

Romans " 



Home Philemon . . . . . . A.D. 62. 

" Colossians " 

" Ephesians " 

" Philippians A.D. 63. 



Macedonia (?) . . Timothy (I.) . . 
" (?) . . Titus 



A.D. 



Rome Timothy (II.) A.D. m. 

362 



LIST OF BOOKS. 



The following brief list of books may be helpful to those 
who desire to study the life and times of Paul: — 

Author. Title. 

Conybeare and Howson, Life and Epistles of St. Paul. 

Lewin " 

Farrar Life and Work of St. Paul. 

Malleson Acts and Epistles of St. Paul. 

Macduff Footsteps of St. Paul. 

Eadie Paul the Preacher. 

Taylor Paul the Missionary. 

Howson Character of St. Paul, 

" Companions of St. Paul. 

" ...... Metaphors of St. Paul. 

Smith Voyage and Shipwreck of St. 

Paul. 

Rawlinson St. Paul in Damascus. 

Plumptre " Asia Minor. 

Davies ...... " Greece. 

Merivale ' " Rome. 

Myers St. Paul, a poem. 

Monod Discourses on St. Paul. 

Pressense ..... " (i 

Paley Horae Paulinas 

Hackett . . . . . . Commentary on the Acts. 

Gloag " " 

Meyer " " 

Baumgarten .... Apostolic History. 

Porter Five Years in Damascus. 

Di Cesnola Cyprus. 

363 



364 list or books. 

Wood . . Discoveries at Ephesus. 

Wordsworth .... Greece. 

Milman History of Christianity. 

Uhlhorn Conflict of Christianity and Pa- 
ganism. 

Dollinger The Gentile and the Jew. 

Brace Gesta Christi. 

Neander Planting and Training. 

Fisher Beginnings of Christianity. 

Farrar Early Days of Christianity. 

Stanley Essays and Sermons on the Apos- 
tolic Age. 

Arnot The Church in the House. 

Emma Leslie .... Glaucia. 

E. F. Burr Dio, the Athenian. 

Becker Gallus. 

" Charicles. 



INDEX. 



Acropolis, 206. 
Adramyttiurn, 316. 
Agabus, 99, 276. 
Agora of Athens, 207, 209. 
Agrippa, Herod I., 22. 
Agrippa, Herod II., 310. 
Alexander, the coppersmith, 

260. 
Alexandria, Troas, 177. 
Amphipolis, 196. 
Ananias of Damascus, 50. 
Ananias, High Priest, 284, 293, 

301. 
Antioch of Syria, 67. 
Antioch in Pisidia, 133. 
Antonia, 286. 
Apollonia, 196. 
Apollos, 241. 
Appian Way, 341. 
Appii Forum, 342. 
Aquila, 221, 242, 251, 342. 
Arabia, 57. 
Areopagus, 206, 211. 
Aretas, King, 45. 
Aristarchus, 253, 260, 264, 300, 

317. 
Artemisian Festival, 256. 
Asia Minor, 127. 
Asiarchs, 256. 
Assos, 269. 
Athens, 206. 
Attalia, 150. 
Attica, 204. 

Baptism of Eunuch, 78. 

Baptism of Paul, 54. 

Barjesus, 121. 

Barnabas, 19,62, 85, 95, 105-168. 

Berenice, 310. 

Berea, 201, 264; 

Burrus, 352. 



Csesarea, 22, 79, 299. 
Cappadocia, 128. 
Captivity, 306, 351, 360. 
Castor and Pollux, 334, 340. 
Cenchrea, 218, 265. 
Cesnola, 116. 
Character, Paul's, 91-95. 
" Christian," 97. 
Cilicia, 15. 
Clauda, 324. 
Claudius Lysias, 286. 
Colossae, 253, 352. 
Colossians, Epistle to, 352. 
Conversion, Saul's, 47. 
Corinth, 217, 265. 
Corinthians, Epistles to, 255, 

264. 
Cornelius, 83. 
Cydnus, 15, 24. 
Cyprus, 116. 

Damaris, 216. 

Damascus, 41. 

Daphne, 71. 

Demetrius, 258. 

Demoniac girl, 188. 

Derbe, 148. 

Diana, Temple of, 235. 

Dionvsius the Areopagite, 216. 

Drusilla, 304. 

Egnatian Road, 182. 
Elymas, Sorcerer, 121. 
Epaphras, 351. 
Epaphroditus, 352. 
Ephesians, Epistle to, 352. 
Ephesus, 235-241. 
Epicureans, 210. 
Eunice, 171. 
Euraquilo, 324. 
Exorcists, 251. 

365 



366 



INDEX. 



Fair Havens, 321. 
Felix, 299. 
Festus, 308. 

Gangas, 183. 

Galatia, 128, 173. 

Galatians, Epistle to, 265. 

Gallio, 225. 

Gamaliel, School of, 20. 

Gauls, 173. 

Greece, 181. 

Herod Agrippa I., 22. 
Herod Agrippa II., 310. 
Herostratus, 236. 
Hospitality, 187, 221, 276, 282. 

Idolatry, 106, 144, 208, 238. 
Iconium, 142. 

James, " the Just," 78, 158, 281. 

Jason, 197-200. 

Jerusalem, 21, 62, 100, 157, 282. 

Jews, 108, 110, 283. 

John Mark {see " Mark "). 

Judas, house of, 48. 

Julius, Centurion, 317. 

Laodicea, 253. 

Lois, 171. 

Luke, 179, 220, 317, 333. 

Lycaonia, 129, 145. 

Lycus, 253. 

Lysias, 286. 

Lystra, 144. 

Macedonia, 179, 356. 

Mseander, 253. 

Magicians, 120, 250. 

Malta, 332. 

Mark, John, 102, 106, 168. 

Mary, 101. 

Miletus, 269. 

Minerva, 206. 

Mnason, 282. 

Myra, 319. 

Mysia, 176. 

Navigation, Ancient, 319. 
Nazarites, 228. 
Neapolis, 181. 
Nero, 338. 
Nicodemus, 152, 



Olympus, 201, 203. 
Onesimus, 351. 
Orontes, 66. 

Pamphylia, 128. 

Paphos, 119. 

Parthenon, 206. 

Patara, 272. 

" Paul," change of name, 126. 

Pentecost, 28, 282. 

Perga, 127. 

Peter, 62, 79-84, 162. 

Pharisees, 153, 294. 

Philemon, Epistle to, 351. 

Philip, Deacon and Evangelist, 

78, 275. 
Philippi, 183, 356. 
Philippians, Epistle to, 352. 
Phoebe, 265. 
Phoenix, Port, 323. 
Physician {see Luke). 
Piraeus, 204. 
Pisidia, 128. 
Priscilla, 220, 242, 342. 
Proconsuls, 22. 
Procurators, 22. 
Proselytes, 155. 
Publius, 333. 
Punishment, 189. 
Puteoli, 340. 

Borne, 336. 

Romans, Epistle to, 267. 

Sadducees, 294. 

St. Paul's Bay, 328. 

Salamis, 118. 

Samos, 269. 

Samothrace, 180. 

Sanhedrim, 34. 

" Saul," change of name, 126. 

Sceva, Seven Sons of, 251. 

Schools, 18, 20. 

Scourging, 189, 289. 

Seleucia, 112. 

Sergius Paulus, 119. 

Ships, Ancient, 319. 

Shipwreck, 331. 

Sidon, 317. 

Silas, 159, 168, 200, 222. 

Silversmiths, 257. 

Sopater, 264. 

Sorcery, 251. 



INDEX. 



367 



Sosthenes, 253. 
Stephen, 33. 
Stoics, 210. 
Stromboli, 335. 
Sunium, Cape, 201. 
Synagogue Worship, 133. 

Tarsus, 15-20. 

Temple at Jerusalem, 284. 

Tertullus, 301. 

Theatre at Ephesus, 259. 

Thessalonica, 194. 

Thessalonians, Epistles to, 222. 

Timothy, 147, 170, 253. 

Timothy, Epistles to, 357, 360. 

Titus, 157, 253. 



Titus, Epistle to, 357. 
Troas, 177, 178. 
Trogyllium, 269. 
Trophimus, 253. 
Tychicus, 264, 352, 
Tyrannus, 226. 
Tyre, 273. 

Unknown God, 215. 

Via Appia, 341. 

Voyage to Rome, 316-342. 

Walls, Long, 207. 
Women, Position of. 72, 110, 
337. 



